Numbers 3:1-51
3 * And this is the line of Aaron and Moses on the day that Jehovah spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.
2 * And these are the names of Aaron’s sons: Nadab the eldest, and Abihu; Eleazar and Ithamar;
3 these are the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests who were installed into the priesthood.
4 And Nadab and Abihu died when they presented alien fire before Jehovah in the wilderness of Sinai, and had no sons; but Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests along with their father Aaron.
5 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying
6 “Present the tribe of Levi and have them wait on Priest Aaron, attending to his needs,
7 * and be on duty for him
8 and care for all the furniture of the Tent of Meeting, doing the work of the tabernacle;
9 and give the Levites to Aaron and his sons: they are a donation given to him from the son of Israel.
10 And Aaron and his sons you shall appoint, and they shall attend to their priestly duties, and an outsider who approaches to be put to death.”
11 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying
12 “And I on my part have take the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every eldest son that has started a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
13 For every eldest son is mine: on the day when I struck down every eldest-born in Egypt I consecrated to myself every eldest born in Israel, of man and of beast: mine they are—I am Jehovah.”
14 And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying
15 “Muster the sons of Levi by families, by clans; you are to count every male from a month old up in mustering them.”
16 And Moses mustered them by Jehovah’s direction as he had been ordered to.
17 And these were the sons of Levi by name: Gershon, Kehath, and Merari.
18 And these were the names of the sons of Gershon by clans: Libni and Shimei.
19 And the sons of Kehath by clans: ʽAmram and Ishar, Hebron and ʽUzziel.
20 And the sons of Merari by clans: Mahli and Mushi.
These are the clans of the Levites by families:
21 Of Gershon, the Libnite clan and the Shimeite clan: these are the clans of the Gershonites.
22 Their muster, enumerating every male from a month old up, was seventy-five hundred.
23 The clan of the Gershonites camped behind the tabernacle, on the west;
24 * and the family prince of the Gershonite clan was Eljasaph the son of Lael.
25 * And the province of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting was the tabernacle and the tent, its covering, and the screen of the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,
26 and the curtains of the court and the screen of the entrance of the court around the tent and the altar, and its ropes for all its purposes.
27 And of Kehath, the ʽAmramite clan and the Isharite clan and the Hebronite clan and the ʽUzzielite clan: these are the clans of the Kehathites:
28 * enumerating every male from a month old up, eighty-six hundred who did duty about the sacred things.
29 The clans of the sons of Kehath camped on the south flank of the tabernacle;
30 and the family prince of the Kehathite clans was Elisaphan the son of ʽUzziel.
31 And their province was the ark and the table and the lampstand and the altars and the sacred articles with which the services are performed, and the screen and all its appurtenances.
32 And the supreme prince of the Levites was Eleazar the son of Priest Aaron, in authority over those who did duty about the sacred things.
33 Of Merari, the Mahlite clan and the Mushite clan: these are the clans of Merari;
34 and their muster, enumerating every male from a month old up, was sixty-two hundred.
35 And the family prince of the Merarite clans was Suriel the son of Abihail; they camped on the north flank of the tabernacle.
36 And the official province of the sons of Merari was the frames of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its plinths and all its furnishings and all its appurtenances,
37 and the pillars of the court around it and their plinths and their pegs and ropes.
38 And those who camped in front of the tabernacle, on the east in front of the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, guarding the sanctuary for the guarding of the sons of Israel; and an outsider who approached was to be put to death.
39 All the muster of the Levites, whom Moses mustered by Jehovah’s direction clan by clan, every male from a month old up, was twenty two thousand.
40 And Jehovah said to Moses “Muster all the male firstborn of the sons of Israel, from a month old up, and take the count of their names.
41 And you shall take the Levites for me Jehovah instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the Levites’ cattle instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.”
42 And Moses, as Jehovah had commanded him, mustered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel;
43 and of all the male firstborn, by count of names, from a month old up, by their muster, there were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.
44 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying
45 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the Levites’ cattle instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall belong to me Jehovah.
46 And as to the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the first-born of the sons of Israel who constitute the excess over the Levites,
47 you shall take five shekels per capita; you shall take it by the sacred standard, twenty gerahs to a shekel;
48 and you shall give the money to Aaron and his sons as redemption for those among them who constitute the excess.”
49 And Moses took the redemption-money from those who were in excess over the Levite redemption:
50 from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money, thirteen hundred and sixty-five shekels by the sacred standard.
51 And Moses gave the redemption-money to Aaron and his sons by Jehovah’s direction, as Jehovah had commander Moses.
Footnotes
^ 3:1 Conj. of Aaron on the day
^ 3:2 Var. Abihud
^ 3:7 Codd. for him and for all the congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle, and care
^ 3:24 Var. of the Gershonites was
^ 3:25 Conj. coverings
^ 3:28 Conj. eighty-three
