Numbers 3:40-42

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Redemption of the Firstborn

⁴⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the first-born males of the people of Israel, from a month old and upward, taking their number by names. ⁴¹ And you shall take the Levites for me—I am the Lord—instead of all the first-born among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the people of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses numbered all the first-born among the people of Israel, as the Lord commanded him.