< Numbers 3 >
1 Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses, in the day when the word of the Lord came to Moses on Mount Sinai.
These are some of the things that happened to Aaron and Moses/me when Yahweh spoke to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain.
2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the oldest, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Aaron’s four sons were Nadab the oldest, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests, on whom the holy oil was put, who were marked out as priests.
They were appointed [MTY] (OR, Moses/I appointed them) to be priests.
4 And Nadab and Abihu were put to death before the Lord when they made an offering of strange fire before the Lord, in the waste land of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar did the work of priests before Aaron their father.
But, while Yahweh was watching, Nadab and Abihu died in the Sinai Desert because they burned [incense] in a manner that was different from what Yahweh had commanded. They had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar were the [only] sons of Aaron who [were left to be] priests, along with their father Aaron.
5 And the Lord said to Moses,
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
6 Make the tribe of Levi come near, and put them before Aaron the priest, to be his helpers,
“Bring [the men of] the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron, in order that they may assist him.
7 In order that they may be responsible to him and to all Israel for the care of the Tent of meeting, and to do the work of the House;
They will serve Aaron and all the other Israeli people, while they do their work inside the Sacred Tent and outside it.
8 And they will have the care of all the vessels of the Tent of meeting, and will do for the children of Israel all the necessary work of the House.
They must serve all the Israeli people by taking care of all the things that are inside the Sacred Tent.
9 Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; so that they may be his without question from among the children of Israel.
Appoint them to [help] Aaron and his two sons. I have chosen them from all the Israeli people to do that.
10 And give orders that Aaron and his sons are to keep their place as priests; any strange person who comes near is to be put to death.
Appoint Aaron and his two sons to do the work that priests do. But anyone else who comes close to the Sacred Tent [to do that work] must be executed.”
11 And the Lord said to Moses,
Yahweh also told Moses/me,
12 See, I have taken the Levites out of the children of Israel to be mine in place of the first sons of the children of Israel;
“Note that from all the Israelis, I have chosen the men of the tribe of Levi to take the places of all the firstborn sons of the Israeli people. The male descendants of Levi belong to me,
13 For all the first sons are mine; on the day when I put to death all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I took for myself every first male birth of man and beast. They are mine; I am the Lord.
because truly all the firstborn [males] belong to me. That is because on the day that I killed all the firstborn [sons] of the people of Egypt, I [spared] all the firstborn [sons] of the Israelis and set them apart for myself. I also set apart the firstborn [males] of your domestic animals. They belong to me, Yahweh.”
14 And the Lord said to Moses in the waste land of Sinai,
Yahweh spoke to Moses/me again in the Sinai Desert. He said,
15 Let all the children of Levi be numbered by their families and their fathers' houses; let every male of a month old and over be numbered.
“Count the male members of the tribe of Levi. Write down their names and the names of their clans and family groups. Count all the males who are at least one month old.”
16 So Moses did as the Lord said, numbering them as he had been ordered.
So Moses/I counted them, just as Yahweh commanded.
17 These were the sons of Levi by name: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.
Levi had [three] sons, whose names were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon, by their families: Libni and Shimei.
Gershon had [two] sons: Libni and Shimei. The clans that were descended from them had the same names as those [two] sons.
19 And the sons of Kohath, by their families: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel.
Kohath had [four] sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. The clans that were descended from them had the same names as those [four] sons.
20 And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites in the order of their fathers' houses.
Merari had [two] sons: Mahli and Mushi. The clans that were descended from them had the same names as those [two] sons. Those are the clans that were descended from Levi.
21 From Gershon come the Libnites and the Shimeites; these are the families of the Gershonites.
The two clans descended from Gershon are those that were descended from [his sons] Libni and Shimei.
22 Those who were numbered of them, the males from one month old and over, were seven thousand, five hundred.
In those two clans there were 7,500 males who were at least one month old.
23 The tents of the Gershonites are to be placed at the back of the House, to the west.
They were told to set up their tents on the west side of the Sacred Tent.
24 The chief of the Gershonites is Eliasaph, the son of Lael.
The leader of those two clans was Eliasaph, the son of Lael.
25 In the Tent of meeting, the Gershonites are to have the care of the House, and the Tent with its cover, and the veil for the door of the Tent of meeting,
Their work was to take care of the Sacred Tent, including the coverings of the tent, the curtain at the entrance of the tent,
26 And the hangings for the open space round the House and the altar, and the curtain for its doorway, and all the cords needed for its use.
the (curtains/large pieces of cloth) that formed the walls around the courtyard that is around the tent and around the altar, the curtains that were at the entrance of the courtyard, and the ropes [for fastening the tent]. They also did all the work of taking care of the things outside the Sacred Tent.
27 From Kohath come the Amramites and the Izharites and the Hebronites and the Uzzielites; these are the families of the Kohathites.
The clans that were descended from Kohath were those descended from his four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
28 Those who were numbered of them, the males from one month old and over, were eight thousand, six hundred, who were responsible for the care of the holy place.
In those four clans there were 8,600 males who were at least one month old. The work of the men of the clans was to take care of [the things that are inside] the Sacred Tent.
29 The tents of the Kohathites are to be placed on the south side of the House.
They set up their tents on the south side of the Sacred Tent.
30 Their chief is Elizaphan, the son of Uzziel.
The leader of those four clans was Elizaphan, the son of Uzziel.
31 In their care are the ark, and the table, and the lights, and the altars, and all the vessels used in the holy place, and the veil, and all they are used for.
The work of the men of those clans was to take care of the sacred chest, the table [on which the priest put the sacred bread], the lampstand, the altars, all the items that the priest used in the Sacred Tent, and the curtain that is inside the tent. Their work was also to take care of the things inside the tent.
32 Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, will be head over all the Levites and overseer of those responsible for the care of the holy place.
Aaron’s son Eleazar was the leader of all the male descendants of Levi. He supervised all the work that was done at the Sacred Tent.
33 From Merari come the Mahlites and the Mushites; these are the families of Merari.
The clans that were descended from Merari were those descended from [his sons] Mahli and Mushi.
34 Those who were numbered of them, the males of a month old and over, were six thousand, two hundred.
In those two clans there were 6,200 males who were at least one month old.
35 The chief of the families of Merari was Zuriel, the son of Abihail: their tents are to be placed on the north side of the House.
They were told to set up their tents on the north side of the Sacred Tent. The leader of those two clans was Zuriel, the son of Abihail.
36 And in their care are to be all the boards of the Tent, with their rods and pillars and bases, and all the instruments, and all they are used for,
The work of the men of those two clans was to take care of the frames that held up the tent, the crossbars, the pillars, and the bases. They also did all the work that was connected with those items.
37 And the pillars of the open space round it, with their bases and nails and cords.
Their work was also to take care of the posts [that held up the curtains that formed the walls of] the courtyard, and all the bases, tent pegs, and ropes [that fastened those curtains].
38 And those whose tents are to be placed on the east side of the House in front of the Tent of meeting, looking to the dawn, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, who will do the work of the holy place for the children of Israel; and any strange person who comes near will be put to death.
Aaron and Moses/I and Aaron’s sons were told to set up their/our tents in the area in front of the Sacred Tent, on the east side. Their/Our work was to supervise the work that would be done in and around the Sacred Tent, for the benefit of the Israeli people. Only the priests were permitted to do that. [Yahweh declared that] we should execute anyone else who went near the tent [to do the work that the priests do].
39 All the Levites numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord, all the males of one month old and over numbered in the order of their families, were twenty-two thousand.
When Aaron and Moses/I counted all the males who were at least one month old, who belonged to the clans descended from Levi, the total was 22,000.
40 And the Lord said to Moses, Let all the first male children be numbered, and take the number of their names.
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Now count all the [other] firstborn males in Israel who are at least one month old, and write down their names.
41 And give to me the Levites (I am the Lord) in place of the first sons of the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of the first births among the cattle of the children of Israel.
Also, set apart for me the descendants of Levi to be substitutes for the firstborn males of the other Israelis. And set apart for me the livestock of the descendants of Levi to be substitutes for the firstborn livestock of the other Israeli people.”
42 So Moses had all the first sons among the children of Israel numbered, as the Lord said to him.
So Moses/I did that. He/I counted the firstborn males of all the Israeli people, as Yahweh had commanded.
43 Every first son from a month old and over was numbered by name, and the number came to twenty-two thousand, two hundred and seventy-three.
The total of those who were at least one month old was 22,273.
44 And the Lord said to Moses,
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
45 Take the Levites in place of all the first sons of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle; the Levites are to be mine; I am the Lord.
“Set apart the descendants of Levi to be substitutes for [the firstborn males of] the other Israeli people. The descendants of Levi belong to me, Yahweh.
46 And the price you have to give for the two hundred and seventy-three first sons of the children of Israel which are in addition to the number of the Levites,
There are 273 more firstborn males of the other Israeli people than of the descendants of Levi.
47 Will be five shekels for every one, by the scale of the holy place (the shekel is twenty gerahs);
To pay for these 273 males, collect five pieces of silver for each of them. Each of those pieces of silver must weigh the same as each of the silver coins that are stored in the Sacred Tent. Give this silver to Aaron and his sons.”
48 And this money, the price of those over the number of the Levites, is to be given to Aaron and his sons.
49 So Moses took the money, the price of those whose place had not been taken by the Levites;
So Moses/I did that. He/I collected the silver from those 273 males.
50 From the first sons of Israel he took it, a thousand, three hundred and sixty-five shekels, by the scale of the holy place;
The total was 1,365 pieces of silver. Each silver coin weighed the same as each of the silver coins stored in the Sacred Tent.
51 And he gave the money to Aaron and his sons, as the Lord had said.
Moses/I gave these silver coins to Aaron and his sons, as Yahweh had commanded.