Numbers 3

¹ And these [are] births of Aaron and Moses, in the day of Jehovah’s speaking with Moses in mount Sinai.

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

³ these [are] the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whose hand he hath consecrated for acting as priest.

⁴ And Nadab dieth — Abihu also — before Jehovah, in their bringing near strange fire before Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai, and sons they had not; and Eleazar — Ithamar also — acteth as priest in the presence of Aaron their father.

⁵ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

⁶ ‘Bring near the tribe of Levi, and thou hast caused it to stand before Aaron the priest, and they have served him,

⁷ and kept his charge, and the charge of all the company before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle;

⁸ and they have kept all the vessels of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle;

⁹ and thou hast given the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are surely given to him out of the sons of Israel.

¹⁰ ‘And Aaron and his sons thou dost appoint, and they have kept their priesthood, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.’

¹¹ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

¹² ‘And I, lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every first-born opening a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites have been Mine;

¹³ for Mine [is] every first-born, in the day of My smiting every first-born in the land of Egypt I have sanctified to Myself every first-born in Israel, from man unto beast; Mine they are; I [am] Jehovah.’

¹⁴ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

¹⁵ ‘Number the sons of Levi by the house of their fathers, by their families; every male from a son of a month and upward thou dost number them.’

¹⁶ And Moses numbereth them according to the command of Jehovah, as he hath been commanded.

¹⁷ And these are 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, [are] Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

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

²¹ Of Gershon [is] the family of the Libnite, and the family of the Shimite; these are the families of the Gershonite.

²² Their numbered ones, in number, every male from a son of a month and upward, their numbered ones [are] seven thousand and five hundred.

²³ The families of the Gershonite, behind the tabernacle, do encamp westward.

²⁴ And the prince of a father’s house for the Gershonite [is] Eliasaph son of Lael.

²⁵ And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting [is] the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the vail at the opening of the tent of meeting,

²⁶ and the hangings of the court, and the vail at the opening of the court, which [is] by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and its cords, to all its service.

²⁷ And of Kohath [is] the family of the Amramite, and the family of the Izharite, and the family of the Hebronite, and the family of the Uzzielite; these are families of the Kohathite.

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

²⁹ The families of the sons of Kohath encamp by the side of the tabernacle southward.

³⁰ And the prince of a father’s house for the families of the Kohathite [is] Elizaphan son of Uzziel.

³¹ And their charge [is] the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary with which they serve, and the vail, and all its service.

³² And [to] the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, [is] the oversight of the keepers of the charge of the sanctuary.

³³ Of Merari [is] the family of the Mahlite, and the family of the Mushite; these [are] the families of Merari.

³⁴ And their numbered ones, in number, all the males from a son of a month and upward, [are] six thousand and two hundred.

³⁵ And the prince of a father’s house for the families of Merari [is] Zuriel son of Abihail; by the side of the tabernacle they encamp northward.

³⁶ And the oversight — the charge of the sons of Merari — [is] the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its vessels, and all its service,

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

³⁸ And those encamping before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting, at the east, [are] Moses and Aaron, and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the sons of Israel, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.

³⁹ All those numbered of the Levites whom Moses numbered — Aaron also — by the command of Jehovah, by their families, every male from a son of a month and upward, [are] two and twenty thousand.

⁴⁰ And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Number every first-born male of the sons of Israel from a son of a month and upward, and take up the number of their names;

⁴¹ and thou hast taken the Levites for Me (I [am] Jehovah), instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of every firstling among the cattle of the sons of Israel.’

⁴² And Moses numbereth, as Jehovah hath commanded him, all the first-born among the sons of Israel.

⁴³ And all the first-born — male — by the number of names, from a son of a month and upward, of their numbered ones, are two and twenty thousand two hundred and seventy and three.

⁴⁴ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

⁴⁵ ‘Take the Levites instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites have been Mine; I [am] Jehovah.

⁴⁶ ‘And [from] those ransomed of the two hundred and seventy and three (who are more than the Levites) of the first-born of the sons of Israel,

⁴⁷ thou hast even taken five shekels a-piece by the poll — by the shekel of the sanctuary thou takest; twenty gerahs the shekel [is];

⁴⁸ and thou hast given the money to Aaron, and to his sons, whereby those over and above are ransomed.’

⁴⁹ And Moses taketh the ransom money from those over and above those ransomed by the Levites;

⁵⁰ from the first-born of the sons of Israel he hath taken the money, a thousand and three hundred and sixty and five — by the shekel of the sanctuary;

⁵¹ and Moses giveth the money of those ransomed to Aaron, and to his sons, according to the command of Jehovah, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.