Numbers 3

1 Now, these, were the pedigrees of Aaron and Moses, —in the day when Yahweh spake with Moses in 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 And these, are the names of the sons of Aaron—the firstborn Nadab, —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 that were anointed, —who were installed to minister as priests.

They were appointed [MTY] (OR, Moses/I appointed them) to be priests.

4 But Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they brought near strange fire before Yahweh in the desert of Sinai, and sons, had they none, —so then Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests, in the presence of 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 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying—

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,

6 Bring near the tribe of Levi, and thou shalt cause it to stand before Aaron the priest, —so shall they wait upon him;

“Bring [the men of] the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron, in order that they may assist him.

7 so shall they keep his charge, and the charge of all the assembly, before the tent of meeting, —to do the laborious work of the habitation;

They will serve Aaron and all the other Israeli people, while they do their work inside the Sacred Tent and outside it.

8 so shall they have charge of all the furniture of the tent of meeting, even the charge of the sons of Israel, —to do the laborious work of the habitation.

They must serve all the Israeli people by taking care of all the things that are inside the Sacred Tent.

9 Thus shalt thou give the Levites unto Aaron and unto his sons, —given, given, they are unto him, from among the sons of Israel;

Appoint them to [help] Aaron and his two sons. I have chosen them from all the Israeli people to do that.

10 but unto Aaron, and unto his sons, shalt thou give oversight, so shall they keep charge of their priesthood, —and, the stranger who cometh near, shall 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 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying—

Yahweh also told Moses/me,

12 I, therefore, lo! I have taken the Levites out of the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of every firstborn that a mother beareth, from among the sons of Israel, —so shall the Levites be mine;

“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, mine, is every firstborn, in the day when I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto myself every firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast, —mine, did they become, and belong unto me, Yahweh.

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 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, in the desert of Sinai, saying: —

Yahweh spoke to Moses/me again in the Sinai Desert. He said,

15 Number thou the sons of Levi, by their ancestral houses, by their families, —every male, from one month old and upwards, shalt thou number them.

“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 then Moses numbered them according to the bidding of Yahweh, —as he was commanded.

So Moses/I counted them, just as Yahweh commanded.

17 And these were the sons of Levi, by their names, —Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.

Levi had [three] sons, whose names were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

18 And these, 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, 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 they—the families of the Levites by their ancestral 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 To, Gershon, belonged the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites, —these, are they—the families of the Gershonites.

The two clans descended from Gershon are those that were descended from [his sons] Libni and Shimei.

22 They who were numbered of them in the counting of every male, from one month old, and upwards, —they who were num-bered of them, were seven thousand and five hundred.

In those two clans there were 7,500 males who were at least one month old.

23 the families of the Gershonites, to the rear of the habitation, were to encamp, westward.

They were told to set up their tents on the west side of the Sacred Tent.

24 And, the prince of the ancestral house of the Gershonites, was Eliasaph son of Lael.

The leader of those two clans was Eliasaph, the son of Lael.

25 And, the charge, of the sons of Gershon, was over the tent of meeting, the habitation, and the tent, —the covering thereof, and the screen for the entrance 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 of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the court which was near the habitation and near the altar, round about, —and the cords thereof, as to all the laborious work thereof.

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 And to Kohath, belonged the family of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites, —these, are they—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 In, the counting of every male, from one month old and upwards, there were eight thousand and six hundred, to keep the charge of the sanctuary.

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, families of the sons of Kohath, were to encamp, —on the side of the habitation, south-ward.

They set up their tents on the south side of the Sacred Tent.

30 And the prince of the ancestral house of the families of the Kohathites, was Elizaphan, son of Uzziel.

The leader of those four clans was Elizaphan, the son of Uzziel.

31 And their charge, was—the ark and the table and the lampstand and the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary wherewith they were to minister, —and the screen, as to all the laborious work thereof.

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 And the prince of the princes of the Levites, was Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, —to have the oversight of them that were to keep the charge of the sanctuary.

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 To Merari, belonged the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites, —these, are they—the families of Merari.

The clans that were descended from Merari were those descended from [his sons] Mahli and Mushi.

34 And they who were numbered of them in the counting of every male, from one month old and upwards, were six thousand, and two hundred.

In those two clans there were 6,200 males who were at least one month old.

35 And the prince of the ancestral house of the families of Merari, was Zuriel son of Abihail, —on the side of the habitation, were they to encamp northward.

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 the oversight of the charge of the sons of Merari, was—the boards of the habitation, and the bars thereof and the pillars thereof and the sockets thereof, —and all the furniture thereof, as to all the laborious work thereof;

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 also the pillars of the court round about and their sockets, —and their pins and their 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 But, they who were to encamp before the habitation eastwards before the tent of meeting, towards sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons. to keep the charge of the sanctuary, as the charge of the sons of Israel and, the stranger that came near, was to 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 they who were numbered of the Levites whom Moses [and Aaron] numbered at the bidding of Yahweh by their families, —every male, from one month old and upwards, were two-and-twenty 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 Yahweh said unto Moses: Number thou every firstborn male belonging to the sons of Israel, from one month old and upwards, —and reckon up 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 then shalt thou take the Levites for me, me Yahweh, instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, —also the cattle of the Levites, instead of every firstling among the cattle of the sons 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 then Moses numbered, as Yahweh commanded him, —every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

So Moses/I did that. He/I counted the firstborn males of all the Israeli people, as Yahweh had commanded.

43 And it was so—that all the firstborn of the males in the counting of names from one month old and upwards of such as were numbered of them, —were two-and-twenty thousand, two hundred and seventy-three.

The total of those who were at least one month old was 22,273.

44 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying: —

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,

45 Take the Levites, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites, instead of their cattle, —so shall the Levites belong unto me, me Yahweh;

“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 as the ransom of the two hundred and seventy-three, —who are more than the Levites, of the firstborn of the sons of Israel,

There are 273 more firstborn males of the other Israeli people than of the descendants of Levi.

47 thou shalt take five shekels apiece by the poll, —by the shekel of the sanctuary, shalt thou take it, twenty gerahs to the shekel;

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 shalt give the silver to Aaron and to his sons, —as the ransom of them that are in excess over them.

49 So Moses took the redemption silver from them who were in excess over them who were redeemed by the Levites:

So Moses/I did that. He/I collected the silver from those 273 males.

50 from the firstborn of the sons of Israel, took he the silver, —a thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary,

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 Moses gave the redemption silver to Aaron and to his sons at the bidding of Yahweh, —As Yahweh commanded Moses.

Moses/I gave these silver coins to Aaron and his sons, as Yahweh had commanded.