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 old and upward, even to fifty years old, everyone who can enter the service of ministry to do 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 take down ^(B)the veil of the curtain, and cover the ^(C)ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ and they shall place a ^(D)covering of ^[d]fine leather on it, and spread over it a cloth of pure ^[e]violet, and insert its carrying poles. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of violet and put on it the dishes, the pans, the sacrificial bowls, and the jugs for the drink offering; and ^(E)the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸ And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles. ⁹ Then they shall take a violet cloth and cover the ^(F)lampstand for the light, ^(G)along with its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all its oil containers, by which they attend to it; ¹⁰ and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on the carrying ^[f]bars. ¹¹ Over the golden altar they shall spread a violet cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a violet cloth and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying ^[g]bars. ¹³ Then they shall clean away the ^[h]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, shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of fine leather over it and insert its carrying 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 by the poles, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(I)and die. These are the ^[i]things in the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “Now the responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(J)the oil for the light, the ^(K)fragrant incense, ^(L)the continual grain offering, and ^(M)the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the ^[j]tabernacle and everything 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 eliminated from among the Levites. ¹⁹ Rather, do this for them so that they will 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 come in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”