Numbers 3:5–37

⁵And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ⁶‘Bring near the tribe of Levi, and thou hast caused it to stand before Aaron the priest, and they have served him, ⁷and kept his charge, and the charge of all the company before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle; ⁸and they have kept all the vessels of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle; ⁹and thou hast given the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are surely given to him out of the sons of Israel.

¹⁰‘And Aaron and his sons thou dost appoint, and they have kept their priesthood, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.’ ¹¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ¹²‘And I, lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every first-born opening a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites have been Mine; ¹³for Mine is every first-born, in the day of My smiting every first-born in the land of Egypt I have sanctified to Myself every first-born in Israel, from man unto beast; Mine they are; I am Jehovah.’

¹⁴And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵‘Number the sons of Levi by the house of their fathers, by their families; every male from a son of a month and upward thou dost number them.’ ¹⁶And Moses numbereth them according to the command of Jehovah, as he hath been commanded. ¹⁷And these are sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹And the sons of Kohath, by their families, are Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. ²⁰And the sons of Merari by their families are Mahli and Mushi; these are the families of the Levites, by the house of their fathers. ²¹Of Gershon is the family of the Libnite, and the family of the Shimite; these are the families of the Gershonite. ²²Their numbered ones, in number, every male from a son of a month and upward, their numbered ones are seven thousand and five hundred. ²³The families of the Gershonite, behind the tabernacle, do encamp westward. ²⁴And the prince of a father’s house for the Gershonite is Eliasaph son of Lael. ²⁵And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting is the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the vail at the opening of the tent of meeting, ²⁶and the hangings of the court, and the vail at the opening of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and its cords, to all its service. ²⁷And of Kohath is the family of the Amramite, and the family of the Izharite, and the family of the Hebronite, and the family of the Uzzielite; these are families of the Kohathite. ²⁸In number, all the males, from a son of a month and upward, are eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. ²⁹The families of the sons of Kohath encamp by the side of the tabernacle southward. ³⁰And the prince of a father’s house for the families of the Kohathite is Elizaphan son of Uzziel. ³¹And their charge is the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary with which they serve, and the vail, and all its service. ³²And to the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, is the oversight of the keepers of the charge of the sanctuary. ³³Of Merari is the family of the Mahlite, and the family of the Mushite; these are the families of Merari. ³⁴And their numbered ones, in number, all the males from a son of a month and upward, are six thousand and two hundred. ³⁵And the prince of a father’s house for the families of Merari is Zuriel son of Abihail; by the side of the tabernacle they encamp northward. ³⁶And the oversight—the charge of the sons of Merari—is the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its vessels, and all its service, ³⁷and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.