Numbers 4:1-49
4 Jehovah now spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
2 “There will be a taking* of the sum of the sons of Koʹhath+ from among the sons of Leʹvi, according to their families in the house of their fathers,
3 from thirty* years old+ upward to fifty years old,+ all those going into the service group*+ to do the work in the tent of meeting.
4 “This is the service of the sons of Koʹhath in the tent of meeting.+ It is something most holy:
5 And Aaron and his sons must come in when the camp is departing, and they must take down the screening curtain+ and must cover the ark+ of the testimony with it.
6 And they must put a covering of sealskins+ over it and spread out an entire cloth of blue on top and put in its poles.+
7 “And they will spread out a cloth of blue over the table+ of showbread, and they must put upon it the dishes+ and the cups and the bowls+ and the pitchers of the drink offering; and the constant bread+ should continue on it.
8 And they must spread out a cloth of coccus+ scarlet over them, and they must cover it with a covering of sealskins+ and put in its poles.+
9 And they must take a cloth of blue and cover the lampstand+ of the luminary and its lamps+ and its snuffers+ and its fire holders+ and all its vessels+ for oil with which they regularly minister to it.
10 And they must put it and all its utensils into a covering of sealskins+ and put it upon a bar.
11 And over the golden altar+ they will spread out a cloth of blue, and they must cover it with a covering of sealskins+ and put in its poles.+
12 And they must take all the utensils+ of the ministry with which they regularly minister in the holy place, and they must put them in a cloth of blue and cover them with a covering of sealskins+ and put them upon a bar.
13 “And they must clear away the fatty ashes of the altar+ and spread out a cloth of wool dyed reddish purple over it.
14 And they must put upon it all its utensils with which they regularly minister at it, the fire holders, the forks and the shovels and the bowls, all the utensils of the altar;+ and they must spread out over it a covering of sealskins and put in its poles.*+
15 “And Aaron and his sons must finish covering the holy place+ and all the utensils+ of the holy place when the camp is departing, and after that the sons of Koʹhath will come in to carry them,+ but they must not touch+ the holy place so that they have to die. These things are the load of the sons of Koʹhath in the tent of meeting.+
16 “And the oversight+ of El·e·aʹzar the son of Aaron the priest is over the oil+ of the luminary and the perfumed incense+ and the constant grain offering+ and the anointing oil,+ the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, namely, the holy place and its utensils.”
17 And Jehovah spoke further to Moses and Aaron, saying:
18 “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Koʹhath·ites+ be cut off from among the Levites.
19 But do this for them that they may indeed keep alive and may not die for their approaching the most holy things.+ Aaron and his sons will come in, and they must assign them each one to his service and to his load.
20 And they must not come in to see the holy things for the least moment of time,* and so they have to die.”+
21 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying:
22 “There will be a taking* of the sum of the sons of Gerʹshon,+ yes, them by the house of their fathers according to their families.
23 From thirty years old upward to fifty years you will register them,+ all who come to enter into the service group to render service in the tent of meeting.
24 This is the service of the families of the Gerʹshon·ites as to serving and as to carrying.+
25 And they must carry the tent cloths+ of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting,+ its covering+ and the sealskin covering+ that is on top over it, and the screen+ of the entrance of the tent of meeting,
26 and the hangings+ of the courtyard and the entrance screen+ of the gate of the courtyard that is round about the tabernacle and the altar, and their tent cords and all their service utensils, and all things with which* work is regularly done. Thus they must serve.
27 At the order of Aaron and his sons+ all the service of the sons of the Gerʹshon·ites+ should take place as regards all their loads and all their service, and YOU must assign all their loads to them by obligation.*
28 This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gerʹshon·ites+ in the tent of meeting, and their obligatory service is under the hand of Ithʹa·mar+ the son of Aaron the priest.
29 “As for the sons of Me·rarʹi,+ you will register them by their families in the house of their fathers.
30 From thirty years old upward to fifty years you will register them, all who enter into the service group to render the service of the tent of meeting.+
31 And this is their obligation, their load,+ according to all their service in the tent of meeting: the panel frames+ of the tabernacle and its bars+ and its pillars+ and its socket pedestals,+
32 and the pillars+ of the courtyard round about and their socket pedestals+ and their tent pins+ and their tent cords together with all their equipment and all their service. And by their names YOU will assign the equipment for which they are obligated, as their load.+
33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Me·rarʹi+ according to all their service in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithʹa·mar the son of Aaron the priest.”+
34 And Moses and Aaron and the chieftains+ of the assembly proceeded to register the sons of the Koʹhath·ites+ by their families and by the house of their fathers,
35 from thirty+ years old upward to fifty years,+ all who entered into the service group for the service in the tent of meeting.+
36 And the ones registered of them by their families came to be two thousand seven hundred and fifty.+
37 These are the registered+ ones of the families of the Koʹhath·ites, all those serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the order of Jehovah by means of Moses.
38 As for the registered ones of the sons of Gerʹshon+ by their families and by the house of their fathers,
39 from thirty years old upward to fifty years, all who entered into the service group for the service in the tent of meeting,+
40 the ones registered of them by their families, by the house of their fathers, came to be two thousand six hundred and thirty.+
41 These were the registered ones of the families of the sons of Gerʹshon, all those serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the order of Jehovah.+
42 As for the registered ones of the families of the sons of Me·rarʹi by their families, by the house of their fathers,
43 from thirty years old upward to fifty years old, all those entering into the service group for the service in the tent of meeting,+
44 the ones registered of them by their families came to be three thousand two hundred.+
45 These were the registered ones of the families of the sons of Me·rarʹi, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the order of Jehovah by means of Moses.+
46 All the registered ones whom Moses and Aaron and the chieftains of Israel registered as Levites by their families and by the house of their fathers,
47 from thirty years old upward to fifty years old,+ all those coming to render the laborious service and the service of carrying loads in the tent of meeting,+
48 their registered ones came to be eight thousand five hundred and eighty.+
49 At the order of Jehovah they were registered* by means of Moses, each one according to his service and his load; and they were registered just as Jehovah had commanded Moses.+
Footnotes
^ “There will be a taking.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
^ “Everyone going in to do public service,” LXX.
^ SamLXX add: “And they will take a purple cloth and cover the basin and its stand and put them in a blue skin covering and put [them] upon poles.”
^ See vs 2 ftn.
^ “With which,” LXX; MSam, “for (with respect to) which.”
^ “By obligation,” MSam; LXX, “by names,” as in vs 32.
^ Lit., “At the mouth of Jehovah he registered them,” MSam.
