Numbers 3

1 These also [are] the generations of Aaron and Moses, in the day [that] the LORD spoke with Moses in mount Sinai.

2 And these [are] the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the first-born, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3 These [are] the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office.

4 And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father.

5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.

8 And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

9 And thou shalt give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons: they [are] wholly given to him out of the children of Israel.

10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

12 And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel, instead of all the first-born that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;

13 Because all the first-born [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I hallowed to me all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast: mine they shall be: I [am] the LORD.

14 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

15 Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.

16 And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded.

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

18 And these [are] the names of the sons of Gershon by their families; Libni, and Shimei.

19 And the sons of Kohath by their families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

20 And the sons of Merari by their families; Mahli, and Mushi: these [are] the families of the Levites, according to the house of their fathers.

21 Of Gershon [was] the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these [are] the families of the Gershonites.

22 Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, [even] those that were numbered of them, [were] seven thousand and five hundred.

23 The families of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward.

24 And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites [shall be] Eliasaph the son of Lael.

25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation [shall be] the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,

26 And the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which [is] by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it, for all the service of it.

27 And 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 [are] the families of the Kohathites.

28 In the number of all the males from a month old and upward, [were] eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary.

29 The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward.

30 And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites [shall be] Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.

31 And their charge [shall be] the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the hanging, and all the service of it.

32 And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest [shall be] chief over the chief of the Levites, [and have] the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary.

33 Of Merari [was] the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these [are] the families of Merari.

34 And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, [were] six thousand and two hundred.

35 And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari [was] Zuriel the son of Abihail: [these] shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle northward.

36 And [under] the custody and charge of the sons of Merari [shall be] the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its vessels, and all that serveth to it.

37 And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.

38 But those that encamp before the tabernacle towards the east, [even] before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward [shall be] Moses and Aaron, and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary, for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

39 All that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, [were] twenty and two thousand.

40 And the LORD said to Moses, number all the first-born of the males of the children of Israel, from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.

41 And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I [am] the LORD) instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites, instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.

42 And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded him, all the first-born among the children of Israel.

43 And all the first-born males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and seventy and three.

44 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

45 Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I [am] the LORD.

46 And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and seventy and three, of the first-born of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites:

47 Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take [them]: the shekel [is] twenty gerahs.

48 And thou shalt give to Aaron and to his sons the money, with which the odd number of them is to be redeemed.

49 And Moses took the redemption-money of them that were over and above them that were redeemed by the Levites:

50 Of the first-born of the children of Israel he took the money; a thousand three hundred and sixty and five [shekels], after the shekel of the sanctuary.

51 And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed to Aaron, and to his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.