Beginning
The Levites
3 This is the list of the family of Aaron and Moses. This was at the time when the Lord spoke to Moses on Sinai mountain.
2 The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. Nadab was the firstborn son. 3 Aaron anointed them, and he gave authority to them to work as priests. 4 But Nadab and Abihu fell down and died in front of the Lord. That happened when they offered strange fire to the Lord in the Sinai desert.[a] They had no children. So only Eleazar and Ithamar worked as priests while their father Aaron was alive.
The Levites help the priests
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, 6 ‘Bring the tribe of Levi to Aaron the priest. They must help him. 7 They must serve him and all the Israelites. They must work at the Tent of Meeting and take care of it. 8 They must work on behalf of the Israelites. They must take care of the things that are in the Tent of Meeting. That is how they will serve God. 9 Give the Levites to Aaron and to his descendants. They will be the Israelites who help him. They do not have to do anything else. 10 But you must make a list of Aaron and his descendants. They will be the priests. If any other person comes near to the special Tent, they must die.’
11 The Lord also said to Moses, 12 ‘I will not take the firstborn son of every woman in Israel to belong to me. I will take the Levites instead of them. 13 I killed all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians. But I kept the firstborn sons of every person and animal among the Israelites for myself. They belong to me. I am the Lord!’
The Levite families
14 The Lord said to Moses in the Sinai desert, 15 ‘Put the Levites into clans and families and count them. Make a list of every male who is a month old or older.’ 16 Moses obeyed the Lord. So Moses recorded them as the Lord said.
17 The names of the sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
18 Gershon had two sons. Their names were Libni and Shimei.
19 Kohath's sons were called Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.
20 Merari's sons were called Mahli and Mushi.
Those were the sons and grandsons of Levi. They became the leaders of the clans of Levi's tribe.
Gershon's clan
21 There were two families in Gershon's clan. They were the families of Libni and Shimei. 22 There were 7,500 males who were one month or older in their list. 23 Gershon's clan had to put up their tents on the west side of the special Tent. 24 The leader of the clan of Gershon was Eliasaph the son of Lael.
25 Gershon's clan had to take care of the Tent of Meeting, with the cloth that covered it, and the curtain at its door. 26 There was a yard round the outside of the tabernacle and the altar. Gershon's family took care of the curtains that hung round the yard, with their ropes. They also took care of the curtain at the entrance to the yard. They took care of all those kinds of things.
Kohath's clan
27 There were four families in Kohath's clan. They were the families of Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. 28 There were 8,600 males who were one month old or older in this clan. They had to take care of the things inside the special Tent. 29 Kohath's clan had to put up their tents on the south side of the tabernacle. 30 The leader of Kohath's descendants was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.
31 Kohath's family had to take care of the Covenant Box, the table and the lampstands. They had to take care of the altars and the tools that the priests used in the special Tent. They also took care of the curtain in front of the Most Holy Place in the Tent. They did all the work with those things.
32 Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, was the most important leader of the Levites. He ruled over those people who took care of God's special Tent.
Merari's clan
33 There were two families in Merari's clan. They were the families of Mahli and Mushi. 34 There were 6,200 males in that list. They were one month old or older when Moses counted them. 35 The leader of Merari's clan was Zuriel, the son of Abihail. They had to put up their tents on the north side of the special tabernacle.
36 Merari's family had to take care of all the wood parts of the tabernacle. They took care of the heavy things that stood on the ground to hold the poles. 37 They also took care of the poles that held the cloth round the yard, their ropes and other things that held the Tent in its place.
38 Moses, Aaron and Aaron's sons had to put up their tents in front of the tabernacle, on the east side. They were the only people who could go into the Holy Place in the Tent. Any other person who went near it had to die.
39 So Moses and Aaron obeyed the Lord. They counted the Levites by their clans. There were 22,000 males who were one month old or older.
The firstborn sons belong to the Lord
40 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Record all the firstborn sons of the Israelites. Record every male who is one month old or older. Make a list of their names. 41 The Israelites' firstborn sons belong to me. I am the Lord. But I will accept all the males among the Levites instead. The Israelites' firstborn animals also belong to me. But I will accept the animals of the Levites instead.’
42 So Moses counted all the firstborn males among the Israelites as the Lord had said. 43 He counted 22,273 firstborn males who were one month old or older. He made a list of their names.
44 Then the Lord said to Moses, 45 ‘Do not take the firstborn males among the people to belong to me. Accept the Levites instead. Do not use the firstborn animals of the people. Accept the animals of the Levites instead. The Levites will belong to me. I am the Lord. 46 There are 273 more firstborn males of the people than there are Levites. So the people must pay for the extra firstborn sons. 47 You must accept five shekels for each extra firstborn male. The shekel must have the same weight as the shekel that the Levites use in God's tabernacle. There are 20 gerahs in one shekel. 48 Give that money to Aaron and his sons.’
49 So Moses took the money to buy back the extra 273 firstborn sons. That was because the number of firstborn sons was more than the number of Levites. 50 He took 1,365 shekels from them. The shekels had the same weight as the shekel that the Levites used in God's tabernacle. 51 Moses did what the Lord had told him to do. He gave the money to Aaron and his sons.
Kohath's clan
4 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 ‘Write a list of the people in Kohath's clan in their families. That list must be separate from the list of the other Levites. 3 Record the men who can work in the Tent of Meeting. Record them if they are between 30 and 50 years old.
4 These men must take care of everything that is most holy in the Tent of Meeting. 5 When the people are ready to move, Aaron and his sons must go into the Tent of Meeting. They must take down the curtain that is in front of the Covenant Box. They must cover the Covenant Box with the curtain. 6 Then they must cover the curtain with good leather. On the top of that, they must put a blue cloth. Then, they must put the poles through the rings, so that they can carry the Covenant Box.
7 They must put a blue cloth over the table for the special bread. The bread must remain on the table. They must put on the cloth the plates, bowls and dishes. They must also put on it the jars for the wine that they offer to me. 8 Then they must cover all those things with a red cloth. On the top of the red cloth, they must put good leather. Then they must fix the poles to the table, so that they can carry it.
9 They must cover the lampstand and its tools with a blue cloth. They must also cover the jars for the oil with the blue cloth. 10 Then they must cover all this with good leather. They must carry it on a board.
11 They must cover the gold altar with a blue cloth. They must cover the blue cloth with good leather. Then they must fix the poles to the altar, so that they can carry it. 12 They must cover all the tools from God's Holy Tent with a blue cloth. They must cover the blue cloth with good leather. They must carry all this on a board.
13 They must remove the ashes from the bronze altar. They must cover the bronze altar with a purple cloth. 14 They must put all the tools on top of it. That includes the plates for the fire, the forks for the meat, the spades and the bowls. They must cover all that with good leather. Then they must put the poles through the rings on the altar, so that they can carry it.
15 When the camp is ready to move, the men from Kohath's clan must be ready to carry all those things. But they must wait until Aaron and his sons have covered God's Holy Tent and all its holy things. The men from Kohath's clan must not touch the holy things. They will die if they touch the holy things. These are the jobs of Kohath's clan. They must carry the things from the Tent of Meeting when the Israelites travel.
16 Eleazar, who is the son of Aaron the priest, must keep the oil for the light. He must keep the incense and the grain offering. He must keep the special oil. The special oil is a mark on everything that God chooses. Eleazar must take care of the whole Tent of Meeting. He must work with God's Holy Tent and with everything in it.’
17 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 18 ‘You must not cause the end of Kohath's clan from among the Levites. 19 Do not let the men in that clan die. That will happen if they come near to the most holy things. You must do this: Aaron and his sons must go into the Tent of Meeting. They will tell each man the work that he must do. And they must tell each man the things that he must carry. 20 But the men from Kohath's clan must not look at anything that is holy, even for a moment. If they do look at those things, they will die.’
Gershon's clan
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, 22 ‘Also write a list of the people in Gershon's clan in their families. 23 Record the men who can work in the Tent of Meeting. Record them if they are between 30 and 50 years old.
24 The work of the men in Gershon's clan is to carry everything. 25 The men from that clan must carry the curtains of God's Tent. And they must carry the Tent of Meeting with the thing that covers it. And they must carry the good leather that covers all that. And they must carry the curtain for the place where people go into the Tent of Meeting. 26 They must carry the curtains of the yard that is round God's Tent. Also, they must carry the curtain and ropes for the place where people go into the yard. That is the yard that is round God's Tent and the altar. The men from Gershon's clan must carry all the tools that belong with those curtains. They must do everything that all those things need. 27 The men in Gershon's clan must do everything that Aaron and his sons ask them to do. Aaron and his sons must tell them the things that they should carry. And they must tell them everything that they should do. 28 That is the work for the Tent of Meeting that the descendants of Gershon must do. Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest, will tell them the things that they must do.’
Merari's clan
29 Also God said to Moses, ‘Write a list of the people in Merari's clan in their families. 30 Record the men who can work in the Tent of Meeting. Record them if they are between 30 and 50 years old. 31 This is the work of the men in Merari's clan. They must carry the wood parts that hold the Tent of Meeting, and its poles. They must carry its pillars and its bases. 32 And they must carry the pillars, bases, pegs and ropes for the yard that is round God's Tent. And the men in Merari's clan must keep all the tools that belong with those things safe. Each man in Merari's clan must take care of something. Tell each man which things he must carry. 33 That is the work of the descendants of Merari in the Tent of Meeting. Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest, will tell them the things that they must do.’
The numbers in the Levite clans
34 So Moses, Aaron and the people's leaders recorded the names of Kohath's descendants in their clans and in their families. 35 They recorded the men who could work in the Tent of Meeting. They recorded them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 36 They recorded them in clans. There were 2,750 men. 37 Moses and Aaron recorded the descendants of Kohath who worked at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord had told Moses that they must do that.
38 Moses and Aaron also recorded the names of Gershon's descendants in their clans and in their families. 39 They recorded the men who could work in the Tent of Meeting. They recorded them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 40 They recorded them in clans and families. There were 2,630 men. 41 Moses and Aaron recorded the descendants of Gershon who worked at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord had told Moses that they must do that.
42 Moses and Aaron also recorded the names of Merari's descendants in their clans and in their families. 43 They counted all the men who worked in the Tent of Meeting. They counted them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 44 They recorded them in clans. There were 3,200 men. 45 Moses and Aaron recorded the descendants of Merari who worked at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord had told Moses that they must do that.
46 Moses, Aaron and the people's leaders recorded the names of the Levites in their clans and in their families. 47 They counted all the men who worked in the Tent of Meeting. And they counted all the men who carried any of its things. They counted them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 48 There were 8,580 Levites in the list. 49 They told each man the things that he must do. Or they told him what he must carry. Moses recorded all their names. The Lord had told him that he must do that.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.