³³ Of Merari were the families of the Mahlites and the Mushites; these are the families of Merari. ³⁴ The males who were numbered, every male from a month old and upward totaled 6,200. ³⁵ The leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. The Merarites were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. ³⁶ Now the appointed responsibilities of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets or bases, and all the equipment, and all the service concerning them, ³⁷ and the pillars around the courtyard with their bases and their pegs and their cords (tent ropes).

³⁸ Now those to camp before the tabernacle toward the east, before the Tent of Meeting, toward the sunrise, were to be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for whatever was required of the Israelites; and the ^[a]layman (non-Levite) who approached [the sanctuary] was to be put to death. ³⁹ All the men of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the ^[b]command of the Lord, by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000.