Numbers 4:1-49
4 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying
2 “From among the sons of Levi take the census of the sons of Kehath clan by clan, family by family,
3 from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who goes on duty to do work at the Tent of Meeting.
4 This is the service of the sons of Kehath in the Tent of Meeting: the holiest of the holy.
5 And Aaron and his sons shall go in when camp is broken, and take down the screening veil and cover the ark of the Lessons with it,
6 and put over it a covering of sea-cow skin and spread a solid violet cloth of top and put in its poles.
7 And over the showbread-table they shall spread a violet cloth, and put on it the plates and the pans and the chalices and the flagons for the libations, and the regular bread shall be on it;
8 and they shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover it with a cover of sea-cow skin, and put in its poles.
9 And they shall take a violet cloth and cover the lampstand for the light and its lamps any its pincers and its firepans and all the oil-pourers they use in tending it,
10 and put it and all its utensils in a cover of sea-cow skin, and put it on a bar.
11 And over the gold altar they shall spread a violet cloth, and cover it with a cover of sea-cow skin, and put in its poles.
12 And they shall take all the sacred vessels with which they officiate in the sanctuary and put them in a violet cloth and cover them with a cover of sea-cow skin and put them on a bar.
13 And they shall clean the altar of the fat-ashes and spread over it a purple cloth,
14 and put on it all its utensils with which they officiate on it, the firepans and the forks and the shovels and the bowls, all the utensils of the altar, and spread over it a covering of sea-cow skin, and put in its poles.
15 * And Aaron and his sons shall finish covering the sacred objects and all the utensils of the sacred objects when camp is broken, and after that the children of Kehath shall go in to take them up, so that they shall not touch the sacred objects and come by their death. This is the porterage of the sons of Kehath about the Tent of Meeting.
16 “And the province of Eleazar the son of Priest Aaron shall be the oil for the light and the aromatic incense and the regular grain-offering and the oil for anointing, the charge over all the tabernacle and everything it has in it of sacred articles and all their adjuncts.”
17 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying
18 “Do not cut off the tribe of the Kehathite clans from among the Levites:
19 this is what you must do for them to have them live and not die when they approach the holiest of the holy: Aaron and his sons must go in and set them each at his service and his porterage,
20 so that they shall not come in to see during the disarranging of the sacred things and die.”
21 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying
22 “Take the census of the sons of Gershon too, family by family and clan by clan:
23 from thirty years old upward to fifty years old you shall muster them, everyone who goes in to do duty, to perform service at the Tent of Meeting.
24 This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites, serving and carrying.
25 They shall carry the breadths of the tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting, its cover and the cover of sea-cow skin on top over it, and the screen of the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,
26 and the curtains of the court and the screen of the gateway of the court around the tent and the altar, and their ropes, and all the tools for their service; and everything that is done about them they shall do the work of. All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, all their porterage and all their service,
27 shall be under the direction of Aaron and his sons, and you shall appoint them all their loads by name.
28 This is the service of the clans of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting, and their functions are in the hands of Priest Aaron’s son Ithamar.
29 “The sons of Merari you shall muster clan by clan, family by family:
30 from thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall muster them, everyone who goes in for duty, to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting.
31 And this is their porterage duty for all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the frames of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its plinths,
32 * and the pillars of the court around it and their plinths and their pegs and ropes, all their furnishings and all their appurtenances; and you shall appoint to them by name the articles of their porterage duty.
33 This is the service of the clans of the sons of Merari for all their service in the Tent of Meeting, in the hands of Priest Aaron’s son Ithamar.”
34 And Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation mustered the sons of the Kehathites, clan by clan and family by family,
35 from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who went in for duty for service in the Tent of Meeting;
36 and their muster clan by clan was twenty-seven hundred and fifty.
37 This was the muster of the clans of the Kehathites, everyone who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron mustered by Jehovah’s direction through Moses.
38 And the muster of the sons of Gershon, clan by clan and family by family,
39 from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone why went in for duty for service in the Tent of Meeting,
40 their muster clan by clan, family by family, was twenty-six hundred and thirty.
41 * This was the muster of the clans of the sons of Gershon, everyone who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron mustered by Jehovah’s direction.
42 And the muster of the clans of the sons of Merari, clan by clan, family by family,
43 from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who went in for duty for service in the Tent of Meeting,
44 their muster clan by clan was thirty-two hundred.
45 This was the muster of the clans of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron mustered by Jehovah’s direction through Moses.
46 The total muster which Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel took of the Levites, clan by clan and family by family,
47 from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who went in to do sacristan’s work or porterage work in the Tent of Meeting,
48 their muster was eighty-five hundred and eighty:
49 * by Jehovah’s direction they were appointed, through Moses, each to his service and his porterage, and were mustered as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
Footnotes
^ 4:15 Lit. These are the porterage
^ 4:32 Lit. shall appoint by name the
^ 4:41 Var. Jehovah’s direction through Moses
^ 4:49 (last part) Susp.
