³³ Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari. ³⁴ And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred. ³⁵ And the prince of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail: they shall encamp on the side of the tabernacle northward. ³⁶ And ^[a]the appointed charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the instruments thereof, and all the service thereof, ³⁷ and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.

³⁸ And those that encamp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrising, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary ^[b]for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. ³⁹ All that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of Jehovah, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.