⁵ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “^(A)Bring the tribe of Levi near and have them stand before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷ And they shall keep his responsibility and the responsibility for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to perform the ^(B)service of the tabernacle. ⁸ They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the responsibility of the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the ^[a]tabernacle. ⁹ You shall thus ^(C)give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. ¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that ^(D)they may keep their priesthood, but ^(E)the ^[b]outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Now, behold, I ^(F)have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^(G)firstborn, the first offspring of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. ¹³ For ^(H)all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am Yahweh.”

¹⁴ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses ^(I)in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵ “^[c](J)Number the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall ^[d]number.” ¹⁶ So Moses numbered them according to the ^[e]word of Yahweh, just as he had been commanded. ^17 (K)These then are the sons of Levi by their names:

²¹ Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²² Their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, even their numbered men were 7,500. ²³ The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward, ²⁴ and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael.

Responsibilities of the Priests

²⁵ Now ^(M)the responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and ^(N)the tent, its covering, and ^(O)the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(P)the hangings of the court, and ^(Q)the screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service ^[f]concerning them.

²⁷ Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites and the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸ In the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary. ²⁹ The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the southward side of the tabernacle, ³⁰ and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families was ^[g]Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹ Now ^(R)their responsibility involved ^(S)the ark, ^(T)the table, ^(U)the lampstand, ^(V)the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service ^[h]concerning them; ³² and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chief of the leaders of Levi and had the oversight of those who keep the responsibility of the sanctuary.

³³ Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴ And their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, were 6,200. ³⁵ And the leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ^(W)camp on the northward side of the tabernacle. ³⁶ Now the appointed responsibility of the sons of Merari involved the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its equipment, and the service concerning them, ³⁷ and the pillars around the court with their bases and their pegs and their cords.

Duties of the Kohathites

4 Then Yahweh 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 and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the duty of doing the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴ This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵ “And when the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down ^(B)the veil of the screen and cover the ^(C)ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ and they shall put a ^(D)covering of porpoise skin on it and shall spread over it a cloth of pure ^[c]blue and shall insert its poles. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of ^[d]blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the offering bowls and the jars 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 porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles. ⁹ Then they shall take a ^[e]blue cloth and cover the ^(F)lampstand for the light, ^(G)along with its lamps and its tongs, and its ^[f]trays and all its oil vessels, by which they minister in connection to it; ¹⁰ and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin and shall put it on the carrying bars. ¹¹ And over the golden altar they shall spread a ^[g]blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin and shall insert its poles; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a ^[h]blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin and put them on the carrying bars. ¹³ Then they shall take away the ^[i]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 minister in connection with it: the firepans, the flesh hooks and shovels and the bowls, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its 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, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(I)and die. These are the ^[j]things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “And the assignment of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(J)the oil for the light and the ^(K)fragrant incense and ^(L)the continual grain offering and ^(M)the anointing oil—the assignment of all the ^[k]tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸ “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. ¹⁹ But do this to them that they may live and ^(N)not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and set each of them to his service and to his load; ²⁰ but ^(O)they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

Duties of the Gershonites

²¹ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²² “Take ^[l]a census of the sons of Gershon ^[m]also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; ²³ from ^(P)thirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall ^[n]number them; all who enter to perform the duty of performing the service in the tent of meeting. ²⁴ This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: ²⁵ they shall carry ^(Q)the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^(R)the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(S)the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, ^[o]they shall perform. ²⁷ All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their service, shall be performed at the ^[p]command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a responsibility all their loads. ²⁸ This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their responsibilities shall be ^[q]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹ “As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households; ³⁰ from ^(T)thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the duty of performing the service of the tent of meeting. ³¹ Now this is the responsibility of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its bases, ³² and the pillars around the court and their bases and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items of the responsibility of ^[r]his load. ³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, ^[s]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

² But bring near with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ^(A)joined with you and minister to you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. ³ And they shall thus keep your responsibility and the responsibility of all the tent, but ^(B)they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and ^(C)the altar, so that neither they nor you will die. ⁴ And they shall be joined with you and keep the responsibility of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but ^[a]an outsider may not come near you. ⁵ So you shall keep the ^(D)responsibility of the sanctuary and the responsibility of the altar, ^(E)so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. ⁶ And behold, I Myself ^(F)have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ^(G)a gift to you, given to Yahweh, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. ⁷ But you and your sons with you shall ^(H)keep your priesthood in everything that concerns the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as ^(I)a ^[b]bestowed service, but ^(J)the ^[c]outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”