Numbers
Chapter 4
1 God spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 Count the Kohathite men among the Levites by their families and their fathers’ households.
3 From age thirty to fifty, everyone who joins the group to work at the meeting tent.
4 The Kohathites will work at the meeting tent, taking care of the most sacred items.
5 When the camp moves, Aaron and his sons must take down the curtain and use it to cover the Ark of the Agreement.
6 You will cover it with badger-skin and lay a completely blue cloth on top, and put the carrying poles in place.
7 On the table of special bread, they shall lay a blue cloth and place the plates, spoons, bowls, and lids on it: and the regular bread shall be on it.
8 They will spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover that with badger skin, and insert the carrying poles.
9 They will use a blue cloth to cover the lampstand, its lamps, tongs, snuffdishes, and all the oil containers used for service.
10 They will cover it and all its tools with badger skins, then put it on a pole.
11 On the gold altar, they will lay a blue cloth, cover it with badger skin, and attach its carrying poles.
12 They must take all the service tools they use in the holy place, wrap them in blue cloth, cover them with leather, and carry them on a pole.
13 They will remove the ashes from the altar and cover it with a purple cloth.
14 They will put all its tools on it, which they use for service, like the pans, meat forks, shovels, and bowls, all the tools for the altar; and they will cover it with badger skin and put its carrying poles in place.
15 When Aaron and his sons finish covering the sanctuary and all its items, as the camp prepares to move, the Kohathites must carry them. However, they must not touch the sacred objects, or they will die. This is the Kohathites’ responsibility in the tent of meeting.
16 Eleazar, Aaron’s son and a priest, is in charge of the oil for the lamp, the sweet-smelling incense, the daily grain offering, the anointing oil, and looking after the entire tent of meeting, everything in it, the holy place, and its furnishings.
17 God spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
18 Do not exclude the Kohathite clan from the Levite tribe.
19 Do this for them so they will live and not die when they handle the most holy things: Aaron and his sons must go in and assign each one his job and his load to carry.
20 They must not enter to see the holy items being covered, or they will die.
21 God spoke to Moses and said,
22 Count the sons of Gershon too, by their father’s houses and by their families.
23 Count all who are from 30 to 50 years old; these are the ones who will work and serve in the meeting tent.
24 This is the work of the Gershonite families, to serve and carry loads.
25 They will carry the tabernacle’s curtains, its covering, the extra layer of badger skin on top, and the cloth for the entrance of the meeting tent.
26 The curtains of the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the courtyard gate near the tent and the altar, their ropes, all the tools used for their service, and everything made for them: this is how they will work.
27 Aaron and his sons will direct all the work of the Gershonites with everything they carry and all their tasks. You must give them responsibility for all they carry.
28 This is the job of the Gershon family groups in the meeting tent: they will work under Ithamar, Aaron the priest’s son.
29 Count the sons of Merari by their families and their fathers’ houses.
30 Count everyone from 30 to 50 years old who enters to serve and work at the tent of meeting.
31 This is their duty with all the work they do in the tent of meeting: to take care of the tent’s frames, bars, posts, and bases.
32 The pillars around the courtyard, their bases, pegs, and ropes, with all their tools and everything used in their service: you must list the tools assigned for carrying them by name.
33 This is the work of the Merari family groups, doing all their tasks at the meeting tent, led by Ithamar, Aaron the priest’s son.
34 Moses, Aaron, and the leader of the assembly counted the Kohathite men by their families and ancestors’ houses.
35 From age thirty to fifty, everyone who enters the service to work in the tent of meeting.
36 And the count of them by their families was two thousand seven hundred and fifty.
37 These were the people counted from the Kohathite families, all who could work at the meeting tent, which Moses and Aaron counted as God commanded through Moses.
38 The sons of Gershon were counted according to their families and their fathers’ houses.
39 From thirty to fifty years old, everyone who enters the service to work in the tent of meeting.
40 The count of them, by their family and father’s house, was two thousand six hundred thirty.
41 These are the people counted from Gershon’s descendants, all who could work in the meeting tent, whom Moses and Aaron counted as God commanded.
42 The number of people from the Merari family groups, counted by their family lines and fathers’ houses,
43 From age thirty to fifty, anyone who joins the service to work at the tent of meeting.
44 The count of their family members was three thousand two hundred.
45 These are the ones counted from the families of Merari’s sons, whom Moses and Aaron counted as God commanded through Moses.
46 Everyone counted from the Levite tribe, whom Moses, Aaron, and Israel’s leaders recorded by their families and ancestors’ houses,
47 From age thirty to fifty, everyone who came to serve and carry loads in the meeting tent.
48 Even those counted among them were 8,580.
49 God instructed them to count each person by Moses’ direction, based on their tasks and responsibilities, and so Moses counted them as God had ordered.