Duties of the Kohathites

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “Take ^[a]a census of the ^[b]descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, ³ from ^(A)thirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴ This is the work of the ^[c]descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵ “When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down ^(B)the veil of the screen and cover the ^(C)ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ and they shall lay a ^(D)covering of porpoise skin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth of pure ^[d]blue, and shall insert its poles. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of ^[e]blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the sacrificial bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and ^(E)the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸ They shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles. ⁹ Then they shall take a ^[f]blue cloth and cover the ^(F)lampstand for the light, ^(G)along with its lamps and its snuffers, and its ^[g]trays and all its oil vessels, by which they serve it; ¹⁰ and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put it on the carrying bars. ¹¹ Over the golden altar they shall spread a ^[h]blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin, and shall insert its poles; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a ^[i]blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin, and put them on the carrying bars. ¹³ Then they shall take away the ^[j]ashes from the ^(H)altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴ They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they serve in connection with it: the firepans, the forks and shovels and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its poles. ¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(I)and die. These are the ^[k]things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “The responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(J)the oil for the light and the ^(K)fragrant incense and ^(L)the continual grain offering and ^(M)the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the ^[l]tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸ “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. ¹⁹ But do this to them that they may live and ^(N)not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load; ²⁰ but ^(O)they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

Duties of the Gershonites

²¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²² “Take ^[m]a census of the sons of Gershon ^[n]also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; ²³ from ^(P)thirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall ^[o]number them; all who enter to perform the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. ²⁴ This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: ²⁵ they shall carry ^(Q)the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^(R)the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(S)the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, ^[p]they shall perform. ²⁷ All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their work, shall be performed at the ^[q]command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads. ²⁸ This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their duties shall be ^[r]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹ “As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households; ³⁰ from ^(T)thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tent of meeting. ³¹ Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its ^[s]sockets, ³² and the pillars around the court and their ^[t]sockets and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items ^[u]he is to carry. ³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, ^[v]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴ So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁵ from ^(U)thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. ³⁶ Their numbered men by their families were 2,750. ³⁷ These are the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ^[w]commandment of the Lord ^[x]through Moses.

³⁸ The numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁹ from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. ⁴⁰ Their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630. ⁴¹ These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ^[y]commandment of the Lord.

⁴² The numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households, ⁴³ from ^(V)thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. ⁴⁴ Their numbered men by their families were 3,200. ⁴⁵ These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ^[z]commandment of the Lord ^[aa]through Moses.

⁴⁶ All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ households, ⁴⁷ from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting. ⁴⁸ Their numbered men were ^(W)8,580. ⁴⁹ According to the ^[ab]commandment of the Lord ^[ac]through Moses, they ^(X)were numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Things to Come

13 ^(A)As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, behold ^[a]what wonderful stones and ^[b]what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? ^(B)Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

³ As He was sitting on ^(C)the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, ^(D)Peter and ^[c]James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the ^[d]sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” ⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁶ Many will come in My name, saying, ‘^(E)I am He!’ and will mislead many. ⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. ⁸ For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “But ^[e]be on your guard; for they will ^(F)deliver you to the ^[f]courts, and you will be flogged ^(G)in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. ^10 (H)The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. ^11 (I)When they ^[g]arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and ^[h]have them put to death. ^13 (J)You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

¹⁴ “But ^(K)when you see the ^(L)abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ^15 (M)The one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house; ¹⁶ and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ¹⁸ But pray that it may not happen in the winter. ¹⁹ For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred ^(N)since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. ²⁰ Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no ^[i]life would have been saved; but for the sake of the ^[j]elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. ²¹ And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is ^[k]the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him; ²² for false Christs and ^(O)false prophets will arise, and will show ^[l](P)signs and ^(Q)wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. ²³ But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.