Numbers 1:47–53

⁴⁷But the Levites were not numbered by their ancestral tribe along with them. ⁴⁸For the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁹“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel; ⁵⁰but appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it; they are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it, and shall encamp around the tabernacle. ⁵¹When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any one else comes near, he shall be put to death. ⁵²The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, every man by his own camp and every man by his own standard; ⁵³but the Levites shall encamp around the tabernacle of the testimony, that there may be no wrath upon the congregation of the people of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.”