The Tribes and Leaders by Armies

2 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ^2 (A)“Everyone of the children of Israel shall camp by his own ^[a]standard, beside the emblems of his father’s house; they shall camp ^(B)some distance from the tabernacle of meeting. ³ On the ^(C)east side, toward the rising of the sun, those of the standard of the forces with Judah shall camp according to their armies; and ^(D)Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be the leader of the children of Judah.” ⁴ And his army was numbered at seventy-four thousand six hundred.

⁵ “Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and Nethanel the son of Zuar shall be the leader of the children of Issachar.” ⁶ And his army was numbered at fifty-four thousand four hundred.

⁷ “Then comes the tribe of Zebulun, and Eliab the son of Helon shall be the leader of the children of Zebulun.” ⁸ And his army was numbered at fifty-seven thousand four hundred. ⁹ “All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces with Judah, one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred—^(E)these shall ^[b]break camp first.

¹⁰ “On the ^(F)south side shall be the standard of the forces with Reuben according to their armies, and the leader of the children of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur.” ¹¹ And his army was numbered at forty-six thousand five hundred.

¹² “Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, and the leader of the children of Simeon shall be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.” ¹³ And his army was numbered at fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

¹⁴ “Then comes the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the children of Gad shall be Eliasaph the son of ^[c]Reuel.” ¹⁵ And his army was numbered at forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. ¹⁶ “All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces with Reuben, one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty—^(G)they shall ^[d]be the second to break camp.

^17 (H)“And the tabernacle of meeting shall move out with the ^[e]camp of the Levites ^(I)in the middle of the ^[f]camps; as they camp, so they shall move out, everyone in his place, by their ^[g]standards.

¹⁸ “On the west side shall be the standard of the forces with Ephraim according to their armies, and the leader of the children of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud.” ¹⁹ And his army was numbered at forty thousand five hundred.

²⁰ “Next to him comes the tribe of Manasseh, and the leader of the children of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.” ²¹ And his army was numbered at thirty-two thousand two hundred.

²² “Then comes the tribe of Benjamin, and the leader of the children of Benjamin shall be Abidan the son of Gideoni.” ²³ And his army was numbered at thirty-five thousand four hundred. ²⁴ “All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces with Ephraim, one hundred and eight thousand one hundred—^(J)they shall ^[h]be the third to break camp.

²⁵ “The ^[i]standard of the forces with Dan shall be on the north side according to their armies, and the leader of the children of Dan shall be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.” ²⁶ And his army was numbered at sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

²⁷ “Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the leader of the children of Asher shall be Pagiel the son of Ocran.” ²⁸ And his army was numbered at forty-one thousand five hundred.

²⁹ “Then comes the tribe of Naphtali, and the leader of the children of Naphtali shall be Ahira the son of Enan.” ³⁰ And his army was numbered at fifty-three thousand four hundred. ³¹ “All who were numbered of the forces with Dan, one hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred—^(K)they shall ^[j]break camp last, with their ^[k]standards.”

³² These are the ones who were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses. ^(L)All who were numbered according to their armies of the forces were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. ³³ But ^(M)the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁴ Thus the children of Israel ^(N)did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; ^(O)so they camped by their ^[l]standards and so they broke camp, each one by his family, according to their fathers’ houses.

The Sons of Aaron^(A)

3 Now these are the ^(B)records^[a] of Aaron and Moses when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ² And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab, the ^(C)firstborn, and ^(D)Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³ These are the names of the sons of Aaron, ^(E)the anointed priests, ^[b]whom he consecrated to minister as priests. ^4 (F)Nadab and Abihu had died before the Lord when they offered profane fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.

The Levites Serve in the Tabernacle

⁵ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^6 (G)“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 ^(H)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 ^(I)you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to ^[c]him from among the children of Israel. ¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, ^(J)and they shall attend to their priesthood; ^(K)but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹² “Now behold, ^(L)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 ^(M)Mine, ¹³ because ^(N)all the firstborn are Mine. ^(O)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^(P)

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 ^(Q)every male from a month old and above.”

¹⁶ So Moses numbered them according to the ^[d]word of the Lord, as he was commanded. ^17 (R)These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸ And these are the names of the sons of ^(S)Gershon by their families: ^(T)Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹ And the sons of ^(U)Kohath by their families: ^(V)Amram, Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ^20 (W)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 (X)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.