⁴⁸ for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying: ^49 (A)“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel; ^50 (B)but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it ^(C)and camp around the tabernacle. ^51 (D)And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it ^(E)up. ^(F)The outsider who comes near shall be put to death. ⁵² The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, ^(G)everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies; ^53 (H)but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no ^(I)wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall ^(J)keep^[a] charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

The Levites Serve in the Tabernacle

⁵ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^6 (A)“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. ⁷ And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do ^(B)the work of the tabernacle. ⁸ Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle. ⁹ And ^(C)you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to ^[a]him from among the children of Israel. ¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, ^(D)and they shall attend to their priesthood; ^(E)but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹² “Now behold, ^(F)I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be ^(G)Mine, ¹³ because ^(H)all the firstborn are Mine. ^(I)On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the Lord.”

Census of the Levites Commanded^(J)

¹⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, saying: ¹⁵ “Number the children of Levi by their fathers’ houses, by their families; you shall number ^(K)every male from a month old and above.”

¹⁶ So Moses numbered them according to the ^[b]word of the Lord, as he was commanded. ^17 (L)These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸ And these are the names of the sons of ^(M)Gershon by their families: ^(N)Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹ And the sons of ^(O)Kohath by their families: ^(P)Amram, Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ^20 (Q)And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their fathers’ houses.

²¹ From Gershon came the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²² Those who were numbered, according to the number of all the males from a month old and above—of those who were numbered there were seven thousand five hundred. ^23 (R)The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward. ²⁴ And the leader of the father’s house of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael. ^25 (S)The duties of the children of Gershon in the tabernacle of meeting included ^(T)the tabernacle, ^(U)the tent with ^(V)its covering, ^(W)the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, ^26 (X)the screen for the door of the court, ^(Y)the hangings of the court which are around the tabernacle and the altar, and ^(Z)their cords, according to all the work relating to them.

^27 (AA)From Kohath came the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸ According to the number of all the males, from a month old and above, there were eight thousand ^[c]six hundred ^[d]keeping charge of the sanctuary. ^29 (AB)The families of the children of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle. ³⁰ And the leader of the fathers’ house of the families of the Kohathites was Elizaphan the son of ^(AC)Uzziel. ^31 (AD)Their duty included ^(AE)the ark, ^(AF)the table, ^(AG)the lampstand, ^(AH)the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which they ministered, ^(AI)the screen, and all the work relating to them.

³² And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites, with oversight of those who kept charge of the sanctuary.

³³ From Merari came the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴ And those who were numbered, according to the number of all the males from a month old and above, were six thousand two hundred. ³⁵ The leader of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. ^(AJ)These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. ³⁶ And ^(AK)the appointed duty of the children of Merari included the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, its utensils, all the work relating to them, ³⁷ and the pillars of the court all around, with their sockets, their pegs, and their cords.

^38 (AL)Moreover those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tabernacle of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, ^(AM)keeping charge of the sanctuary, ^(AN)to meet the needs of the children of Israel; but ^(AO)the outsider who came near was to be put to death. ^39 (AP)All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, by their families, all the males from a month old and above, were twenty-two thousand.