Numbers 4
4
1And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, 3from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter upon the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. 4This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, about the most holy things: 5when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall go in, and his sons, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it, 6and shall put thereon a covering of sealskin, and shall spread over it a cloth all of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. 7And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls and the cups wherewith to pour out; and the continual bread shall be thereon: 8and they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in the staves thereof. 9And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: 10and they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of sealskin, and shall put it upon the frame. 11And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in the staves thereof: 12and they shall take all the vessels of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of sealskin, and shall put them on the frame. 13And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: 14and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, the firepans, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of sealskin, and put in the staves thereof. 15And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp is set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting. 16And the charge of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the continual meal-offering, and the anointing oil, the charge of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, the sanctuary, and the furniture thereof.
17And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 18Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; 19but thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden; 20but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.
21And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 22Take the sum of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ houses, by their families; 23from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to wait upon the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. 24This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens: 25they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of sealskin that is above upon it, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting, 26and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and whatsoever shall be done with them: therein shall they serve. 27At the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burden, and in all their service; and ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their burden. 28This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
29As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them by their families, by their fathers’ houses; 30from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth upon the service, to do the work of the tent of meeting. 31And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, 32and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall appoint the instruments of the charge of their burden. 33This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
34And Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 35from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entered upon the service, for work in the tent of meeting: 36and those that were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. 37These are they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all that did serve in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses.
38And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon, their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 39from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entered upon the service, for work in the tent of meeting, 40even those that were numbered of them, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty. 41These are they that were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, all that did serve in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah.
42And those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, 43from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entered upon the service, for work in the tent of meeting, 44even those that were numbered of them by their families, were three thousand and two hundred. 45These are they that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses.
46All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel numbered, by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 47from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entered in to do the work of service, and the work of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, 48even those that were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred and fourscore. 49According to the commandment of Jehovah they were numbered by Moses, every one according to his service, and according to his burden: thus were they numbered of him, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
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Numbers 4: ASV
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B'midbar (Num) 4
4
1(vii) Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, 2“Take a census of the descendants of K’hat, who are among the descendants of Levi, by clans and families, 3all those from thirty to fifty years old; these will enter the corps doing the work in the tent of meeting.
4“Here is how the descendants of K’hat are to serve in the tent of meeting and deal with the especially holy things: 5when the time comes to break camp, Aharon is to go in with his sons, take down the curtain which serves as a screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it. 6On that they are to place a covering of fine leather, and on top of that spread an all-blue cloth. Then they are to insert the carrying-poles. 7On the table of showbread they are to spread a blue cloth and place on it the dishes, incense pans, offering bowls and pitchers. The perpetual bread is to remain on the table. 8They are to spread on these things a scarlet cloth, cover them with a covering of fine leather and insert the poles. 9They are to take a blue cloth and cover the menorah for the light, its lamps, its tongs, its trays and the jars used to add oil to it. 10They are to wrap it and all its accessories in fine leather and place them on a carrying-frame. 11On the gold altar they are to spread a blue cloth, cover it with a covering of fine leather and insert its carrying-poles. 12They are to take all the utensils they use when serving in the sanctuary and put them in a blue cloth, cover them with fine leather and place them on a carrying-frame. 13After removing the greasy ashes from the altar, they are to spread a purple cloth over it 14and place on it all the utensils required for their altar service — the fire pans, meat-hooks, shovels, basins and other utensils for the altar. Then they are to spread over it a fine leather covering and insert its carrying-poles. 15When Aharon and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy utensils, when the camp is about to move forward, then the descendants of K’hat are to come and carry them. But they are not to touch the holy things, so that they won’t die. These things are the responsibility of the descendants of K’hat in the tent of meeting.
16“El‘azar the son of Aharon the cohen is to be responsible for the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continuing grain offering and the anointing oil. He is to be in charge of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including the sanctuary and its furnishings.”
(Maftir) 17Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, 18“Do not cut off the clan of K’hat from among the L’vi’im; 19rather, do this for them, so that they will live and not die: when they approach the especially holy things, Aharon and his sons are to go in — and you are to assign each one his task; 20but the descendants of K’hat are not to go in and look at the holy things as they are being covered; if they do, they will die.”
Haftarah B’midbar: Hoshea (Hosea) 2:1(1:10)–2:22(20)
B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah B’midbar: Luke 2:1–7; 1 Corinthians 12:12–31
Parashah 35: Naso (Take) 4:21–7:89
21Adonai said to Moshe, 22“Take a census of the descendants of Gershon also, by clans and families; 23count all those between thirty and fifty years old, all who will enter the corps doing the work of serving in the tent of meeting.
24“The Gershon families are to be responsible for serving and for transporting loads. 25They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, its covering, the fine leather covering above it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting, 26the tapestries for the courtyard, and the screen for the entrance to the courtyard by the tabernacle and around the altar, along with the ropes and all the utensils they need for their service; and they are to do the work connected with these things. 27Aharon and his sons are to supervise all the work of the Gershon clan in transporting loads and serving, and to assign them who is to carry what. 28This is how the Gershon families are to serve in the tent of meeting, and they are to be under the direction of Itamar the son of Aharon the cohen.
29“As for the descendants of M’rari, take a census by clans and families 30of all those between thirty and fifty years old, all who will be in the corps doing the work of serving in the tent of meeting.
31“Their service for the tent of meeting will be to carry the frames, crossbars, posts and sockets of the tabernacle; 32also the posts for the surrounding courtyard, with their sockets, tent pegs, ropes and other accessories, and everything having to do with their service. You are to assign particular loads to specific persons by name. 33This is how the M’rari families are to serve in the tent of meeting, directed by Itamar the son of Aharon the cohen.”
(S: ii) 34Moshe, Aharon and the community leaders took a census of the descendants of K’hat by their clans and families, 35all those between thirty and fifty years old who were part of the corps serving in the tent of meeting. 36Registered by their families, they numbered 2,750. 37These are the ones counted from the K’hat families of all those serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moshe and Aharon enumerated, in keeping with the order given by Adonai through Moshe.
(A: ii) 38The census of the descendants of Gershon, by their clans and families, 39all those between thirty and fifty years old who were part of the corps serving in the tent of meeting, 40yielded 2,630, registered by their clans and families. 41These are the ones counted from the families of the descendants of Gershon of all those serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moshe and Aharon enumerated, in keeping with the order given by Adonai.
42The census of the families of the descendants of M’rari, by their clans and families, 43all those between thirty and fifty years old who were part of the corps serving in the tent of meeting, 44yielded 3,200, registered by their families. 45These are the ones counted from the families of the descendants of M’rari, whom Moshe and Aharon enumerated, in keeping with the order given by Adonai through Moshe.
46The census of the L’vi’im, whom Moshe, Aharon and the leaders of Isra’el enumerated by their clans and families, 47all those between thirty and fifty years old who were part of those working to serve and working to carry loads in the tent of meeting, 48yielded a total of 8,580 persons.
49According to Adonai’s order they were appointed by Moshe, each one to his specific service or work. They were also enumerated, as Adonai had ordered Moshe.
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