²⁶ Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me!”

All the descendants of Levi gathered themselves together to Moses. ²⁷ He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man is to strap his sword on his thigh and go back and forth throughout the camp, from one gate of the camp to the other, and every man is to kill his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’” ²⁸ The Levites did what Moses said, and that day about three thousand men from among the people fell.