Numbers 4:29-49

New King James Version

Duties of the Sons of Merari

²⁹ “As for the sons of ^(A)Merari, you shall number them by their families and by their fathers’ house. ^30 (B)From thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ³¹ And ^(C)this is ^(D)what they must carry as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting: ^(E)the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, ³² and the pillars around the court with their sockets, pegs, and cords, with all their furnishings and all their service; and you shall ^(F)assign to each man by name the items he must carry. ³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting, under the ^[a]authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

Census of the Levites

^34 (G)And Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ house, ³⁵ from thirty ^(H)years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting; ³⁶ and those who were numbered by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷ These were the ones who were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all who might serve in the tabernacle of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

³⁸ And those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, by their families and by their fathers’ house, ³⁹ from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting— ⁴⁰ those who were numbered by their families, by their fathers’ house, were two thousand six hundred and thirty. ^41 (I)These are the ones who were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all who might serve in the tabernacle of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord.

⁴² Those of the families of the sons of Merari who were numbered, by their families, by their fathers’ ^[b]house, ⁴³ from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting— ⁴⁴ those who were numbered by their families were three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵ These are the ones who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered ^(J)according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶ All who were ^(K)numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ houses, ^47 (L)from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who came to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the tabernacle of meeting— ⁴⁸ those who were numbered were eight thousand five hundred and eighty.

⁴⁹ According to the commandment of the Lord they were numbered by the hand of Moses, ^(M)each according to his service and according to his task; thus were they numbered by him, ^(N)as the Lord commanded Moses.