⁴⁷ The families from the tribe of Levi were not counted with the other Israelites. ⁴⁸ The Lord had told Moses: ⁴⁹ “Don’t count the men from the tribe of Levi or include them with the other Israelites. ⁵⁰ Tell the Levites that they are responsible for the Tent of the Agreement. They must take care of that tent and everything that is with it. They must carry the Holy Tent and everything in it. They must make their camp around it and take care of it. ⁵¹ Whenever the Holy Tent is moved, the Levites must do it. Whenever the Holy Tent is set up, the Levites must do it. They are the men who will take care of the Holy Tent. Anyone else who tries to take care of the tent must be killed. ⁵² The Israelites will make their camps in separate divisions. Everyone must camp near their family flag. ⁵³ The Levites will set up their tents so that they surround the Tent of the Agreement. They will serve as guards and keep the people away from the Tent. This will protect the Israelites from the Lord’s anger.”

⁵⁴ The Lord had given these commandments to Moses. So the Israelites did everything he commanded.

⁶ “Bring all the men from the tribe of Levi. Bring them to Aaron the priest. These men will be his helpers. ⁷ The Levites will help him when he serves at the Meeting Tent. And they will help all the Israelites when they come to worship at the Holy Tent. ⁸ The Israelites should protect everything in the Meeting Tent; it is their duty. But the Levites will serve the Israelites by caring for these things. This will be their way of serving at the Holy Tent.

⁹ “Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. The Levites were chosen from all the Israelites to help Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰ “Appoint Aaron and his sons to be priests. They must do their duty and serve as priests. Anyone else who tries to come near the holy things^[a] must be killed.”

¹¹ The Lord also said to Moses, ^12-13 “I destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt. At that time I chose all the firstborn from every family in Israel to be mine in a special way. That included all the firstborn men and animals. But now I am choosing the Levites to take their place. Now they will be my special servants. I, the Lord, give this command!”

¹⁴ The Lord again said to Moses in the desert of Sinai, ¹⁵ “Count all the families and family groups in the tribe of Levi. Count every man or boy who is one month old or older.” ¹⁶ So Moses obeyed the Lord. He counted them all.

⁹ You should be happy that the God of Israel chose you to be different from the rest of the Israelites. He lets you come near to him to do the special work in the Lord’s Holy Tent to help the Israelites worship him. Isn’t that enough?

⁵⁷ They also counted the tribe of Levi. These are the family groups from the tribe of Levi:

⁵⁸ These are also family groups from the tribe of Levi:

Amram was from the Kohath family group. ⁵⁹ Amram’s wife was named Jochebed. She was also from the tribe of Levi. She was born in Egypt. Amram and Jochebed had two sons, Aaron and Moses. They also had a daughter, Miriam.

⁶⁰ Aaron was the father of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ⁶¹ But Nadab and Abihu died. They died because they made an offering to the Lord with fire that was not allowed.

⁶² The total number of males one month or older from the tribe of Levi was 23,000. But these men were not counted with the other Israelites. They did not get a share of the land that the Lord gave to the other people.

⁸ At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi from the other tribes for his special work. They had the work of carrying the Lord’s Box of the Agreement. They also served as priests before the Lord. And they had the work of blessing people in the Lord’s name. They still do this special work today.