The Sons of Aaron

3 These are the people of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ² The names of the sons of Aaron are Nadab the first-born, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ³ These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the chosen religious leaders. Aaron set them apart to work as religious leaders. ⁴ But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they made a fire that was not holy to the Lord in the Desert of Sinai. And they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar worked as religious leaders during the life-time of their father Aaron.

The Levites Serve in the Meeting Tent

⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, ⁶ “Bring the family of Levi near. Set them in front of Aaron the religious leader so they may serve him. ⁷ They will do the duties for him and for all the people in front of the meeting tent. They will do the work around the meeting tent, ⁸ and will keep all the things that belong to the meeting tent. They will take care of the duties for the people of Israel as they work around the meeting tent. ⁹ You will give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. They are all given to him from among the people of Israel. ¹⁰ Set apart Aaron and his sons to do the work of religious leaders. But if anyone comes near who is not a religious leader, he must be put to death.”

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “See, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every first-born among the people of Israel. The Levites will be Mine. ¹³ For all the first-born are Mine. On the day that I killed all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I set apart for My own all the first-born in Israel, both man and animal. They will be Mine. I am the Lord.”

The Levites Are Numbered

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses in the Desert of Sinai, ¹⁵ “Number the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses and by their families. Number every male a month old and older.” ¹⁶ So Moses numbered them just as he had been told by the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ The names of the sons of Levi are Gershon, Kohath and Merari. ¹⁸ The names of the sons of Gershon by their families are Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹ The sons of Kohath by their families are Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. ²⁰ The sons of Merari by their families are Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their fathers’ houses.

²¹ Of Gershon were the families of the Libnites and the Shimeites. These were the families of the Gershonites. ²² The number of their men, every male a month old and older, was 7,500. ²³ The families of the Gershonites were to set up their tents behind the meeting tent on the west side. ²⁴ The leader of the fathers’ houses of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael. ²⁵ The sons of Gershon were to take care of the meeting tent, its covering, and the curtain for the door of the meeting tent. ²⁶ And they were to take care of the curtains for the door of the open space, and all curtains around the meeting tent and the altar and their ropes. They did all the work having to do with them.

²⁷ Of Kohath were the families of the Amramites, the Izharites, the Hebronites and the Uzzielites. These were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸ The number of every male a month old and older was 8,600. They did the duties of the holy place. ²⁹ The families of the sons of Kohath were to set up their tents on the south side of the meeting tent. ³⁰ The leader of the fathers’ houses of the Kohathite families was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹ They took care of the special box with the Law, and the table, the lamp-stand, the altars, the things used in the holy place, and the curtain. They did all the work having to do with them. ³² Eleazar, the son of Aaron the religious leader, was the head of the leaders of Levi. He watched over those who did the duties of the holy place.

³³ Of Merari were the families of the Mahlites and the Mushites. These were the families of Merari. ³⁴ The number of their men, every male a month old and older, was 6,200. ³⁵ The leader of the fathers’ houses of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to set up their tents on the north side of the meeting tent. ³⁶ The duties given to the sons of Merari were to take care of the parts made of wood of the meeting tent, its cross pieces, its pillars, its bases, and all the pieces that had to do with them. They took care of all these things, ³⁷ and of the pillars around the open space and their bases and their nails and their ropes.

³⁸ Moses and Aaron and his sons were to set up their tents on the east side in front of the meeting tent, toward the sunrise. They did the duties of the meeting tent, whatever had to be done for the people of Israel. But the one who came near who was not a religious leader was to be put to death. ³⁹ The number of all the Levite men a month old and older, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by their families as the Lord told them, was 22,000.

Levites Take the Place of First-Born Sons

⁴⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Number every first-born male of the sons of Israel a month old and older. Write down their names. ⁴¹ Take the Levites for Me, instead of all the first-born among the sons of Israel. I am the Lord. And take the cattle of the Levites instead of all the first-born among the cattle of the people of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses numbered all the first-born among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had told him. ⁴³ The number of names of all the first-born males a month old and older was 22,273.

⁴⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Take the Levites instead of all the first-born sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites. The number of the Levites will be Mine. I am the Lord. ⁴⁶ There are 273 first-born of the sons of Israel, who are more in number than the Levites. You must pay the price for each of them. ⁴⁷ Take five pieces of silver for each, by the weight of silver agreed upon for the meeting tent. ⁴⁸ Give the money, the price of those who are more in number than the Levites, to Aaron and his sons.” ⁴⁹ So Moses took the money to pay for those who were more in number than the Levites. ⁵⁰ He took the money from the first-born sons of Israel, by the weight agreed upon for the meeting tent. He took 1,365 pieces of silver. ⁵¹ Then Moses gave the money to Aaron and his sons, just as the Lord had told Moses by His Word.

The Work of the Sons of Kohath

4 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “Number the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi. Number them by their families, by the fathers’ houses, ³ from thirty years old and older, even to fifty years old. Number all who are able to do the work in the meeting tent. ⁴ This is the work of the sons of Kohath in the meeting tent to do with the most holy things. ⁵ When the people leave to move on, Aaron and his sons will go in and take down the curtain in front of the special box with the Law inside. And they will cover the special box with it. ⁶ Then they will lay a covering of badgers’ skins on it, and spread a pure blue cloth over that. And they will put in the long pieces of wood to carry it. ⁷ They will spread a blue cloth over the table of the bread before the Lord. They will put on it the plates, the dishes for special perfume, the pots, and the jars for the drink gift. And the bread will be on it always. ⁸ They will spread a red cloth over them, and cover that with badgers’ skins. And they will put in its long pieces of wood to carry it. ⁹ They will take a blue cloth and cover the lamp-stand for the light, with its lamps, its objects to put out the light, its dishes and all its pots of oil used for the light. ¹⁰ They will put the lamp-stand and all its objects in a covering of badgers’ skins. Then they will put it on the long pieces of wood used to carry it. ¹¹ They will spread a blue cloth over the altar of gold, and cover it with badgers’ skins. And they will put in the long pieces of wood to carry it. ¹² They will take all the things used for the work done in the meeting tent. They will put them in a blue cloth and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins. And they will put them on the long pieces of wood to carry them. ¹³ Then they will take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴ They will put on it all the things used for the work done on the altar: the fire-holders, meat-hooks, objects for picking up the ashes, and the pots. Then they will spread a covering of badgers’ skins over it, and put in the long pieces of wood for carrying it. ¹⁵ Aaron and his sons will finish covering the holy objects and all the things of the meeting tent, as the people move on. After that the sons of Kohath will come to carry them. In this way they will not touch the holy objects and die. These are the things in the meeting tent which the sons of Kohath are to carry. ¹⁶ Eleazar the son of Aaron the religious leader will take care of the oil for the light, the special perfume, the grain gift which is always given, and the oil for holy use. He will watch over all the meeting tent and all that is in it, the holy place and its objects.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ¹⁸ “Do not let the family group of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites. ¹⁹ But do this to them so they may live and not die when they come near the most holy objects. Aaron and his sons must go in and give each of them their work and what they are to carry. ²⁰ But they must not go in to see the holy objects even for a short time, or they will die.”

The Work of the Sons of Gershon

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, ²² “Number the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ houses, by their families. ²³ Number those who are thirty years old and older, to fifty years old, all who go in to do the work in the meeting tent. ²⁴ These are the duties of the families of the Gershonites, in working and in carrying. ²⁵ They will carry the curtains of the meeting tent and the meeting tent with its covering and the covering of badgers’ skins that is over it. They will carry the curtain for the door of the meeting tent, ²⁶ the curtains of the open space, and the curtain for the gate of the open space which is around the meeting tent and the altar. And they will carry the ropes for the curtains, and all the things used for their work. They will do whatever needs to be done with them. ²⁷ All the work of the sons of the Gershonites will be what Aaron and his sons tell them to do. They will tell them what they are to carry and what work they are to do. You will tell them what things they have a duty to carry. ²⁸ This is the work to be done by the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the meeting tent. Ithamar the son of Aaron the religious leader will watch over their duties.

The Work of the Sons of Merari

²⁹ “As for the sons of Merari, number them by their families and by their fathers’ houses. ³⁰ Number those who are thirty years old and older, to fifty years old, everyone who goes in to do the work of the meeting tent. ³¹ This is what they are to carry for their work in the meeting tent: the wood pieces of the meeting tent, its cross pieces, pillars and its bases. ³² And they are to carry the pillars which are around the open space and their bases and their nails and ropes, with all the things used for their work. You will tell each man by name what he is to carry. ³³ This is the work of the families of the sons of Merari, all their work in the meeting tent. Ithamar the son of Aaron the religious leader will watch over their duties.”

The Levites Are Numbered

³⁴ So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the people numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ houses. ³⁵ They numbered those who were thirty years old and older, to fifty years old, everyone who went in to do the work in the meeting tent. ³⁶ And their number by families was 2,750. ³⁷ These are the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who worked in the meeting tent. Moses and Aaron numbered them as the Lord told them to do through Moses.

³⁸ The sons of Gershon were numbered, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ³⁹ from thirty years old to fifty years old. Everyone who went in to do the work in the meeting tent was numbered. ⁴⁰ And the number of their men by their families and by their fathers’ houses was 2,630. ⁴¹ These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who were working in the meeting tent. Moses and Aaron numbered them as the Lord told them to do.

⁴² The men of the families of the sons of Merari were numbered, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ⁴³ from thirty years old to fifty years old. Everyone who went in to do the work in the meeting tent was numbered. ⁴⁴ And the number of their men by their families was 3,200. ⁴⁵ These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari. Moses and Aaron numbered them as the Lord told them to do through Moses.

⁴⁶ Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered all the men of the Levites by their families and their fathers’ houses, ⁴⁷ from thirty years old to fifty years old. Everyone who could go in to do the work and the carrying of the meeting tent was numbered. ⁴⁸ And the number of their men was 8,580. ⁴⁹ They were each given their work and load to carry, as the Lord told them to do through Moses. So these were his numbered men, just as the Lord had told Moses.