Numbers 4-5

New King James Version

Duties of the Sons of Kohath

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²“Take a census of the sons of ^(A)Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ house, ³^(B)from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.

⁴^(C)“This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of meeting, relating to ^(D)the most holy things: ⁵When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down ^(E)the covering veil and cover the ^(F)ark of the Testimony with it. ⁶Then they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of ^(G)blue; and they shall insert ^(H)its poles.

⁷“On the ^(I)table of showbread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the ^[a]pitchers for pouring; and the ^(J)showbread^[b] shall be on it. ⁸They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles. ⁹And they shall take a blue cloth and cover the ^(K)lampstand of the light, ^(L)with its lamps, its wick-trimmers, its trays, and all its oil vessels, with which they service it. ¹⁰Then they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of badger skins, and put it on a carrying beam.

¹¹“Over ^(M)the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles. ¹²Then they shall take all the ^(N)utensils of service with which they minister in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of badger skins, and put them on a carrying beam. ¹³Also they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴They shall put on it all its implements with which they minister there—the firepans, the forks, the shovels, the ^[c]basins, and all the utensils of the altar—and they shall spread on it a covering of badger skins, and insert its poles. ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then ^(O)the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; ^(P)but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.

“^(Q)These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“The appointed duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(R)the oil for the light, the ^(S)sweet incense, ^(T)the daily grain offering, the ^(U)anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ¹⁸“Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; ¹⁹but do this in regard to them, that they may live and not die when they approach ^(V)the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and ^[d]appoint each of them to his service and his task. ²⁰^(W)But they shall not go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, lest they die.”

Duties of the Sons of Gershon

²¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²²“Also take a census of the sons of ^(X)Gershon, by their fathers’ house, by their families. ²³^(Y)From thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, you shall number them, all who enter to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting. ²⁴This is the ^(Z)service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and carrying: ²⁵^(AA)They shall carry the ^(AB)curtains of the tabernacle and the tabernacle of meeting with its covering, the covering of ^(AC)badger skins that is on it, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, ²⁶the screen for the door of the gate of the court, the hangings of the court which are around the tabernacle and altar, and their cords, all the furnishings for their service and all that is made for these things: so shall they serve.

²⁷“Aaron and his sons shall ^[e]assign all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, all their tasks and all their service. And you shall ^[f]appoint to them all their tasks as their duty. ²⁸This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of meeting. And their duties shall be ^(AD)under the ^[g]authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Sons of Merari

²⁹“As for the sons of ^(AE)Merari, you shall number them by their families and by their fathers’ house. ³⁰^(AF)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. ³¹And ^(AG)this is ^(AH)what they must carry as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting: ^(AI)the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, ³²and the pillars around the court with their sockets, pegs, and cords, with all their furnishings and all their service; and you shall ^(AJ)assign to each man by name the items he must carry. ³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting, under the ^[h]authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

Census of the Levites

³⁴^(AK)And Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ house, ³⁵from thirty ^(AL)years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting; ³⁶and those who were numbered by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷These 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.

³⁸And those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, by their families and by their fathers’ house, ³⁹from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting— ⁴⁰those who were numbered by their families, by their fathers’ house, were two thousand six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹^(AM)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.

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

⁴⁶All who were ^(AO)numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ houses, ⁴⁷^(AP)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— ⁴⁸those who were numbered were eight thousand five hundred and eighty.

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

Ceremonially Unclean Persons Isolated^(AS)

5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every ^(AT)leper, everyone who has a ^(AU)discharge, and whoever becomes ^(AV)defiled ^[j]by a corpse. ³You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps ^(AW)in the midst of which I dwell.” ⁴And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

Confession and Restitution^(AX)

⁵Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Speak to the children of Israel: ^(AY)‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷^(AZ)then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass ^(BA)in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. ⁸But if the man has no ^[k]relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to ^(BB)the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. ⁹Every ^(BC)offering^[l] of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be ^(BD)his. ¹⁰And every man’s ^[m]holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be ^(BE)his.’ ”

Concerning Unfaithful Wives

¹¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, ¹³and a man ^(BF)lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she ^(BG)caught— ¹⁴if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes ^(BH)jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself— ¹⁵then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall ^(BI)bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for ^(BJ)bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. ¹⁷The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸Then the priest shall stand the woman before the ^(BK)Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. ²⁰But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”— ²¹then the priest shall ^(BL)put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—^(BM)“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh ^[n]rot and your belly swell; ²²and may this water that causes the curse ^(BN)go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.”

‘^(BO)Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”

²³‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. ²⁴And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. ²⁵^(BP)Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall ^(BQ)wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar; ²⁶and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, ^(BR)as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. ²⁷When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a ^(BS)curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman ^(BT)will become a curse among her people. ²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

²⁹‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, ^(BU)goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her. ³¹Then the man shall be free from ^[o]iniquity, but that woman ^(BV)shall bear her ^[p]guilt.’ ”