The Exemption of the Levites

1:47 But47 the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers,48 were not numbered49 among them. 1:48 The Lord had said to Moses,50 1:49 “Only the tribe of Levi51 you must not number52 or count53 with54 the other Israelites. 1:50 But appoint55 the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony,56 over all its furnishings and over everything in it. They must carry57 the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they58 must attend to it and camp around it.59 1:51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move,60 the Levites must take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be reassembled,61 the Levites must set it up.62 Any unauthorized person63 who approaches it must be killed.

1:52 “The Israelites will camp according to their divisions, each man in his camp, and each man by his standard. 1:53 But the Levites must camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that the Lord’s anger64 will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are responsible for the care65 of the tabernacle of the testimony.”

1:54 The Israelites did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses66—that is what they did.