Numbers 4
Young's Literal Translation
4 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,
2 `Take up the sum of the sons of Kohath from the midst of the sons of Levi, by their families, by the house of their fathers;
3 from a son of thirty years and upward, even till a son of fifty years, every one going in to the host, to do work in the tent of meeting.
4 `This [is] the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, the holy of holies:
5 that Aaron and his sons have come in, in the journeying of the camp, and have taken down the vail of the hanging, and have covered with it the ark of the testimony;
6 and have put on it a covering of badger skin, and have spread a garment completely of blue above, and have placed its staves.
7 `And on the table of the presence they spread a garment of blue, and have put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the libation, and the bread of continuity is on it,
8 and they have spread over them a garment of scarlet, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves,
9 and have taken a garment of blue, and have covered the candlestick of the lamp, and its lights, and its snuffers, and its snuff-dishes, and all its oil vessels wherewith they minister to it;
10 and they have put it and all its vessels unto a covering of badger skin, and have put [it] on the bar.
11 `And on the golden altar they spread a garment of blue, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves;
12 and have taken all the vessels of ministry wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and have put [them] unto a garment of blue, and have covered them with a covering of badger skin, and have put [them] on the bar,
13 and have removed the ashes of the altar, and have spread over it a garment of purple;
14 and have put on it all its vessels wherewith they minister about it, the censers, the hooks, and the shovels, and the bowls, all the vessels of the altar, and have spread on it a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves:
15 `And Aaron hath finished -- his sons also -- covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, in the journeying of the camp, and afterwards do the sons of Kohath come in to bear [it], and they do not come unto the holy thing, that they have died; these [things are] the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting.
16 `And the oversight of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, [is] the oil of the lamp, and the spice-perfume, and the present of continuity, and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that [is] in it, in the sanctuary, and in its vessels.'
17 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
18 `Ye do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathite from the midst of the Levites;
19 but this do to them, and they have lived, and do not die in their drawing nigh the holy of holies: -- Aaron and his sons go in, and have set them, each man to his service, and unto his burden,
20 and they go not in to see when the holy thing is swallowed, that they have died.'
21 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,
22 `Take up the sum of the sons of Gershon also by the house of their fathers, by their families;
23 from a son of thirty years and upward, till a son of fifty years thou dost number them, every one who is going in to serve the host, to do the service in the tent of meeting.
24 `This [is] the service of the families of the Gershonite, to serve -- and for burden,
25 and they have borne the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of the badger [skin] which [is] on it above, and the vail at the opening of the tent of meeting,
26 and the hangings of the court, and the vail at the opening of the gate of the court which [is] by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the vessels of their service, and all that is made for them -- and they have served.
27 `By the command of Aaron and his sons is all the service of the sons of the Gershonite in all their burden, and in all their service; and ye have laid a charge on them concerning the charge of all their burden.
28 This [is] the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonite in the tent of meeting; and their charge [is] under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
29 `The sons of Merari, by their families, by the house of their fathers, thou dost number them;
30 from a son of thirty years and upward even unto a son of fifty years thou dost number them, every one who is going in to the host, to do the service of the tent of meeting.
31 `And this [is] the charge of their burden, of all their service in the tent of meeting; the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets,
32 and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, of all their vessels, and of all their service; and by name ye do number the vessels of the charge of their burden.
33 `This [is] the service of the families of the sons of Merari, for all their service, in the tent of meeting, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.'
34 And Moses numbereth -- Aaron also, and the princes of the company -- the sons of the Kohathite, by their families, and by the house of their fathers,
35 from a son of thirty years and upward even unto a son of fifty years, every one who is going in to the host, for service in the tent of meeting,
36 and their numbered ones, by their families, are two thousand seven hundred and fifty.
37 These [are] those numbered of the families of the Kohathite, every one who is serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, by the command of Jehovah, by the hand of Moses.
38 And those numbered of the sons of Gershon, by their families, and by the house of their fathers,
39 from a son of thirty years and upward even unto a son of fifty years, every one who is going in to the host, for service in the tent of meeting,
40 even their numbered ones, by their families, by the house of their fathers, are two thousand and six hundred and thirty.
41 These [are] those numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, every one who is serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the command of Jehovah.
42 And those numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by the house of their fathers,
43 from a son of thirty years and upward even unto a son of fifty years, every one who is going in to the host, for service in the tent of meeting,
44 even their numbered ones, by their families, are three thousand and two hundred.
45 These [are] those numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, by the command of Jehovah, by the hand of Moses.
46 All those numbered, whom Moses numbered -- Aaron also, and the princes of Israel -- of the Levites, by their families, and by the house of their fathers,
47 from a son of thirty years and upward even unto a son of fifty years, every one who is going in to do the work of the service, even the service of burden in the tent of meeting,
48 even their numbered ones are eight thousand and five hundred and eighty;
49 by the command of Jehovah hath [one] numbered them, by the hand of Moses, each man by his service, and by his burden, with his numbered ones, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
Numbers 4
Living Bible
4 1-2 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take a census of the Kohath division of the Levite tribe. 3 This census will be of all males from ages thirty to fifty who are able to work in the Tabernacle. 4 These are their sacred duties:
5 “When the camp moves, Aaron and his sons will enter the Tabernacle first and take down the veil and cover the Ark with it. 6 Then they will cover the veil with goatskin leather, cover the goatskins with a blue cloth, and place the carrying poles of the Ark in their rings.
7 “Next they must spread a blue cloth over the table where the Bread of the Presence is displayed, and place the dishes, spoons, bowls, cups, and the Bread upon the cloth. 8 They will spread a scarlet cloth over that, and finally a covering of goatskin leather on top of the scarlet cloth. Then they shall insert the carrying poles into the table.
9 “Next they must cover with a blue cloth the lampstand, the lamps, snuffers, trays, and the reservoir of olive oil. 10 This entire group of objects shall then be covered with goatskin leather, and the bundle shall be placed upon a carrying frame.
11 “They must then spread a blue cloth over the gold altar, cover it with a covering of goatskin leather, and insert the carrying poles into the altar. 12 All of the remaining utensils of the Tabernacle are to be wrapped in a blue cloth, covered with goatskin leather, and placed on the carrying frame.
13 “The ashes are to be removed from the altar, and the altar shall be covered with a purple cloth. 14 All of the altar utensils are to be placed upon the cloth—the firepans, hooks, shovels, basins, and other containers—and a cover of goatskin leather will be spread over them. Finally, the carrying poles are to be put in place. 15 When Aaron and his sons have finished packing the sanctuary and all the utensils, the clan of Kohath shall come and carry the units to wherever the camp is traveling; but they must not touch the holy items, lest they die. This, then, is the sacred work of the sons of Kohath.
16 “Aaron’s son Eleazar shall be responsible for the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil—in fact, the supervision of the entire Tabernacle and everything in it will be his responsibility.”
17-19 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Don’t let the families of Kohath destroy themselves! This is what you must do so that they will not die when they carry the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in with them and point out what each is to carry. 20 Otherwise they must never enter the sanctuary for even a moment, lest they look at the sacred objects there and die.”
21-23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Take a census of the Gershonite division of the tribe of Levi, all of the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who are eligible for the sacred work of the Tabernacle. 24 These will be their duties:
25 “They will carry the curtains of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle itself with its coverings, the goatskin leather roof, and the curtain for the Tabernacle entrance. 26 They are also to carry the drapes covering the courtyard fence, and the curtain across the entrance to the courtyard that surrounds the altar and the Tabernacle. They will also carry the altar, the ropes, and all of the accessories. They are fully responsible for the transportation of these items. 27 Aaron or any of his sons may assign the Gershonites’ tasks to them, 28 but the Gershonites will be directly responsible to Aaron’s son Ithamar.
29 “Now take a census of the Merari division of the Levite tribe, all of the men from thirty to fifty who are eligible for the Tabernacle service. 30-31 When the Tabernacle is moved, they are to carry the frames of the Tabernacle, the bars, the bases, 32 the frames for the courtyard fence with their bases, pegs, cords, and everything else connected with their use and repair. Assign duties to each man by name. 33 The Merari division will also report to Aaron’s son Ithamar.”
34 So Moses and Aaron and the other leaders took a census of the Kohath division, 35 including all of the men thirty to fifty years of age who were eligible for the Tabernacle service, 36 and found that the total number was 2,750. 37 All this was done to carry out the Lord’s instructions to Moses. 38-41 A similar census of the Gershon division totaled 2,630. 42-45 And of the Merari division, 3,200. 46-48 Thus Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel found that the total of all the Levites who were thirty to fifty years old and who were eligible for the Tabernacle service and transportation was 8,580. 49 This census was taken in response to the Lord’s instructions to Moses.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.