Numbers 3

1These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when Yahweh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

2These are the names of Aaron’s sons: the firstborn Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3These are the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, whose hands were filled to serve as priests.

4But Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no sons; and Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.

5And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

6Bring near the tribe of Levi, and set it before Aaron the priest, and they shall serve him.

7They shall keep his charge and the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to perform the service of the tabernacle.

8They shall keep charge of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and the duty of the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the tabernacle.

9You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.

10And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

11Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

12And I—behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel in place of every firstborn that opens the womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

13For every firstborn is mine. On the day when I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to myself every firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be mine. I am Yahweh.

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

15Count the sons of Levi by their fathers' houses, by their clans: every male from a month old and upward you shall count.

16So Moses counted them at the command of Yahweh, just as he had been commanded.

17These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

18And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans: Libni and Shimei.

19And the sons of Kohath, by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

20The sons of Merari, by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, by their fathers’ houses.

21To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these are the clans of the Gershonites.

22Their numbered ones, according to the number of every male from a month old and upward, were seven thousand five hundred.

23The clans of the Gershonites shall camp behind the tabernacle, toward the west.

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

25And the duty of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was the tabernacle, the tent, its covering, and the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting,

26and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its ropes, for all its service.

27And for Kohath: the clan of the Amramites, and the clan of the Izharites, and the clan of the Hebronites, and the clan of the Uzzielites—these are the clans of the Kohathites.

28By the number of every male from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, keeping charge of the holy place.

29The clans of the sons of Kohath shall camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

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

31And their duty was the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, the screen, and all its service.

32And the chief over the chiefs of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, having oversight of those who kept charge of the sanctuary.

33For Merari: the clan of the Mahlites and the clan of the Mushites; these are the clans of Merari.

34And those counted among them, by the number of every male from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred.

35And the chief of the ancestral house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail. They were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

36And the appointed duty of the sons of Merari was the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its furnishings, and all its service.

37and the pillars of the surrounding courtyard, and their bases, and their pegs, and their cords.

38Those 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, keeping charge of the sanctuary on behalf of the sons of Israel. But the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

39All those counted of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the command of Yahweh, by their clans, every male from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.

40Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Count every firstborn male among the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.”

41And you shall take the Levites for me—I am Yahweh—in place of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of every firstborn among the livestock of the sons of Israel.

42So Moses counted every firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had commanded him.

43And all the firstborn males, by the number of names, from a month old and upward, according to their count, were twenty-two thousand, three hundred seventy-three.

44And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

45Take the Levites in place of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am Yahweh.

46And for the redemption price of the 273 who exceed the Levites from among the firstborn of the sons of Israel,

47you shall take five shekels apiece, by the shekel of the sanctuary; the shekel is twenty gerahs.

48And you shall give the silver to Aaron and to his sons as the redemption price for those among them who are in excess.

49And Moses took the redemption money from those who were in excess over those redeemed by the Levites.

50From the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the silver, one thousand three hundred sixty-five shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.

51And Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, at the command of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.