Numbers 3:40-42

New King James Version

Levites Dedicated Instead of the Firstborn

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses: ^(A)“Number^[a] all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names. ^41 (B)And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded him.