Numbers 4
4
1And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, according to their fathers' houses, 3from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, all that enter into the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. 4This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: it is most holy. 5And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron and his sons shall go in, and they shall take down the veil of separation and cover the ark of testimony with it; 6and shall put thereon a covering of badgers' skin, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put its staves to it. 7And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue; and put thereon the dishes, and the cups, and the bowls, and goblets of the drink-offering; and the continual bread shall be thereon. 8And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skin, and shall put its staves to it. 9And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff-trays, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they perform its service; 10and they shall put it and all the utensils thereof within a covering of badgers' skin, and shall put it upon a pole. 11And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skin, and shall put its staves to it. 12And they shall take all the instruments of service, wherewith they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skin, and shall put them upon a pole. 13And they shall cleanse the altar of the ashes, and spread a purple cloth thereon; 14and they shall put upon it all the utensils thereof, wherewith they perform service about it: the firepans, the forks, and the shovels, and the bowls, — all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skin, and put its staves to it. 15And when Aaron and his sons have ended covering the sanctuary, and all the utensils of the sanctuary, when the camp setteth forward, then afterwards the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it; but they shall not touch the holy things, lest they die. This is what the sons of Kohath have to carry in the tent of meeting. 16And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall have the oversight of the oil for the light, and the fragrant incense, and the continual oblation, and the anointing oil, — the oversight of the whole tabernacle, and of all that is therein, over the sanctuary, and over its furniture. 17And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 18Ye shall not cut off the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites, 19but this shall ye do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they draw near 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 and see for a moment the holy things, lest they die.
21And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 22Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, according to their fathers' houses, after their families. 23From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old shalt thou number them; every one that cometh to labour in the work, to perform the service in the tent of meeting. 24This shall be the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving, and in carrying: 25they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of badgers' skin that is above upon it, and the curtain of the entrance to the tent of meeting, 26and the hangings of the court, and the curtain of the entrance, of the gate of the court, which surroundeth the tabernacle and the altar, and the cords thereof, and all the instruments of their service; and all that is to be done for these things shall they perform. 27At the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their carrying, and in all their service; and ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their carrying. 28This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting, and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 29The sons of Merari: after their families, according to their fathers' houses shalt thou number them; 30from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the labour, to perform the service of the tent of meeting. 31And this shall be 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 bases thereof, 32and the pillars of the court round about, and their bases, and their pegs, and their cords, all their instruments, according to all their service; and by name ye shall number to them the materials which are their charge to carry. 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 assembly numbered the sons of the Kohathites after their families, and according to their fathers' houses, 35from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that entered into the labour, for service in the tent of meeting. 36And those that were numbered of them according to their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. 37These are they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, every one that served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah through Moses. 38And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon, after their families, and according to their fathers' houses, 39from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that entered into the labour, for service in the tent of meeting, 40even those that were numbered of them, after their families, according to their fathers' houses, were two thousand six hundred and thirty. 41These are they that were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, all that served 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, after their families, according to their fathers' houses, 43from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that entered into the labour, for service in the tent of meeting, 44even those that were numbered of them according to their families, were three thousand 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 through Moses. 46All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel numbered, after their families and according to their fathers' houses, 47from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that came to serve in the work of the service, and in the work of carrying, in the tent of meeting, 48even those that were numbered of them, were eight thousand five hundred and eighty. 49According to the commandment of Jehovah they were numbered by Moses, every one for his service, and for his burden, and numbered by him, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
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Numbers 4: DARBY
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Numbers 4
4
Duties of the Kohathites
1The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2“Among the Levites, take a census of the Kohathites#Ex 6:16,18; Nm 3:27–31; 1Ch 6:22–28 by their clans and their ancestral families,#4:2 Lit the house of their fathers, also in vv. 22,29,34,38,40,42,46 3men from thirty years old to fifty years old — everyone who is qualified#4:3 Lit everyone entering the service to do work at the tent of meeting.
4“The service of the Kohathites at the tent of meeting concerns the most holy objects.#Nm 3:30–31; 4:15–19 5Whenever the camp is about to move on, Aaron and his sons are to go in, take down the screening curtain, and cover the ark of the testimony with it.#Ex 25:10–22; 26:31–33 6They are to place over this a covering made of fine leather,#4:6 Hb obscure, also in vv. 8,10,11,12,14,25#Ex 25:5; 26:14; 35:7,23; 36:19,34 spread a solid blue cloth on top, and insert its poles.#Ex 25:13–15
7“They are to spread a blue cloth over the table of the Presence and place the plates and cups on it, as well as the bowls and pitchers for the drink offering. The regular bread offering is to be on it.#Ex 25:30; Lv 24:5–9 8They are to spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover them with a covering made of fine leather, and insert the poles in the table.#Ex 25:26–28
9“They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand#Ex 25:31–35; 26:35; 37:17–20 used for light, with its lamps, snuffers, and firepans,#Ex 25:38; 37:23; Nm 4:14 as well as its jars of oil by which they service it. 10Then they are to place it with all its utensils inside a covering made of fine leather and put them on the carrying frame.
11“They are to spread a blue cloth over the gold altar,#Ex 30:1–3; 31:8; 39:38; 40:5,26 cover it with a covering made of fine leather, and insert its poles.#Ex 30:4; 35:15 12They are to take all the serving utensils they use in the sanctuary, place them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering made of fine leather, and put them on a carrying frame.
13“They are to remove the ashes from the bronze altar, spread a purple cloth over it, 14and place all the equipment on it that they use in serving: the firepans, meat forks, shovels, and basins — all the equipment of the altar.#Ex 27:3; 38:3; Nm 7:13–8:4 They are to spread a covering made of fine leather over it and insert its poles.#4:14 Sam, LXX add They are to take a purple cloth and cover the wash basin and its base. They are to place them in a covering made of fine leather and put them on the carrying frame.#Ex 27:7
15“Aaron and his sons are to finish covering the holy objects and all their equipment whenever the camp is to move on. The Kohathites will come and carry them, but they are not to touch the holy objects or they will die.#Nm 1:51; 4:20; 8:19; 18:7 These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the tent of meeting.
16“Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has oversight of the lamp oil,#Ex 25:6; 27:20; Lv 4:2 the fragrant incense,#Ex 25:6; 30:7; Lv 4:7 the daily grain offering,#Lv 6:20–22 and the anointing oil.#Ex 25:6; 29:7,21; Lv 8:2,10,12,30 He has oversight of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, the holy objects and their utensils.”#4:16 Or the sanctuary and its furnishings
17Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 18“Do not allow the Kohathite tribal clans to be wiped out from the Levites. 19Do this for them so that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy objects:#Nm 3:31; 4:4 Aaron and his sons are to go in and assign each man his task and transportation duty. 20The Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects as they are covered#4:20 Or objects, even long enough to swallow, or they will die.”
Duties of the Gershonites
21The Lord spoke to Moses: 22“Take a census of the Gershonites#Nm 3:17,21–26 also, by their ancestral families and their clans. 23Register men from thirty years old to fifty years old, everyone who is qualified to perform service, to do work at the tent of meeting. 24This is the service of the Gershonite clans regarding work and transportation duties: 25They are to transport the tabernacle curtains,#Ex 26:1–13; 36:8–17 the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering made of fine leather on top of it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting, 26the hangings of the courtyard, the screen for the entrance at the gate of the courtyard that surrounds the tabernacle and the altar, along with their ropes and all the equipment for their service. They will carry out everything that needs to be done with these items.
27“All the service of the Gershonites, all their transportation duties and all their other work, is to be done at the command of Aaron and his sons; you are to assign to them all that they are responsible to carry. 28This is the service of the Gershonite clans at the tent of meeting, and their duties will be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.#Ex 6:23; 28:1; 38:21
Duties of the Merarites
29“As for the Merarites, you are to register them by their clans#Ex 6:16,19; Nm 3:17,33–37 and their ancestral families. 30Register men from thirty years old to fifty years old, everyone who is qualified to do the work of the tent of meeting. 31This is what they are responsible to carry as the whole of their service at the tent of meeting: the supports of the tabernacle, with its crossbars, pillars, and bases, 32the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, and ropes, including all their equipment and all the work related to them. You are to assign by name the items that they are responsible to carry. 33This is the service of the Merarite clans regarding all their work at the tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”
Census of the Levites
34So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the community registered the Kohathites by their clans and their ancestral families, 35men from thirty years old to fifty years old, everyone who was qualified for work at the tent of meeting. 36The men registered by their clans numbered 2,750. 37These were the registered men of the Kohathite clans, everyone who could serve at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron registered them at the Lord’s command through Moses.
38The Gershonites were registered by their clans and their ancestral families, 39men from thirty years old to fifty years old, everyone who was qualified for work at the tent of meeting. 40The men registered by their clans and their ancestral families numbered 2,630. 41These were the registered men of the Gershonite clans. At the Lord’s command Moses and Aaron registered everyone who could serve at the tent of meeting.
42The men of the Merarite clans were registered by their clans and their ancestral families, 43those from thirty years old to fifty years old, everyone who was qualified for work at the tent of meeting. 44The men registered by their clans numbered 3,200. 45These were the registered men of the Merarite clans; Moses and Aaron registered them at the Lord’s command through Moses.
46Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel registered all the Levites by their clans and their ancestral families, 47from thirty years old to fifty years old, everyone who was qualified to do the work of serving at the tent of meeting and transporting it. 48Their registered men numbered 8,580. 49At the Lord’s command they were registered under the direction of Moses, each one according to his work and transportation duty, and his assignment was as the Lord commanded Moses.
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