The Duties of the Descendants of Kohath

4 The Lord told Moses and Aaron, ² “Take a census^[a] of the descendants of Kohath from among the descendants of Levi according to their tribes and ancestral houses ³ from 30 years and older through the age of 50 years, from everyone who can enter the service to perform work at the Tent of Meeting.

⁴ “Here’s what the descendants of Kohath are to do regarding the Tent of Meeting and what’s inside the Most Holy Place: ⁵ When the camp is about to travel, Aaron and his sons are to come and take down the veil of the curtain and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it. ⁶ They are to set a leather-dyed^[b] skin covering over it, cover it with a pure blue cloth, and then insert its poles.

⁷ “They are to spread a blue cloth over the table of the Presence and on top of it the dishes, pans, bowls, pitchers for drink offerings,^[c] and the bread of presence are to be on it continually. ⁸ They are to spread over them a scarlet cloth and a leather-dyed^[d] skin covering and then insert its poles.

⁹ “They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lamp stand for the light with its lamp, lamp-snuffers, censer, and all the utensils for its oil with which they minister. ¹⁰ Then they are to put them with all the other^[e] utensils on the leather-dyed^[f] skin covering and set them on the beams for transport.^[g]

¹¹ “On the golden altar, they are to spread a blue cloth, cover it with a leather-dyed^[h] skin covering, and then insert its poles. ¹² Then they are to take all the utensils for service with which they minister at the sanctuary, set them on the blue cloth, cover them with the leather-dyed^[i] skin covering, and then set them on the beams for transport. ¹³ They are also to remove the ashes on the altar and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴ Then they are to put all the instruments with which they minister there—trays, forks, shovels, bowls, and all the utensils of the altar. They are to spread over it a leather-dyed^[j] skin covering and then insert its poles.

¹⁵ “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the utensils of the sanctuary, and the camp is about to travel, then the descendants of Kohath are to come and carry them, but they are not to touch the most sacred objects, so they won’t die. These are the duties of the descendants of Kohath at the Tent of Meeting.”

¹⁶ “Now the duty of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest is to maintain the oil for the light, the spiced incense, the daily offerings, andthe oil for anointing, to carry out all the duties of the tent and the sanctuary, and to maintain^[k] its utensils.”

Protecting the Descendants of Kohath

¹⁷ Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron, ¹⁸ “You are not to eliminate the tribe of the families of the descendants of Kohath from the descendants of Levi. ¹⁹ But do this for them so that they may live and not die when they approach the Most Holy Place: Aaron and his sons are to go in and set specific responsibilities for each of them to carry out.^{[l] 20} But they are not to go in to see the sanctuary as it is being covered,^[m] so they won’t die.”