Numbers 3:40-45

New English Translation

The Substitution for the Firstborn

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take^[a] the number of their names. ⁴¹ And take^[b] the Levites for me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.” ⁴² So Moses numbered all the firstborn males among the Israelites, as the Lord had commanded him. ⁴³ And all the firstborn males, by the number of the names from a month old and upward, totaled 22,273.

⁴⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ⁴⁵ “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. And the Levites will be mine. I am the Lord.