Numbers 4
4
The Tasks Assigned to the Levites
1And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers, 3from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. 4This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things. 5And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of testimony with it: 6and shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly 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 covers to cover withal: 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 badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. 9And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his 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 badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar. 11And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof: 12and they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar. 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, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it. 15And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.
16And to the office of Ele-a´zar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.
17And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 18Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Ko´hathites 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 when the holy things are covered, lest they die.
21And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 22Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families: 23from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. 24This is the service of the families of the Ger´shonites, to serve, and for burdens: 25and they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers' skins that is above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 26and the hangings of the court, and the hanging 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 all that is made for them: so shall they serve. 27At the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Ger´shonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their burdens. 28This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ith´amar the son of Aaron the priest.
29As for the sons of Mera´ri, thou shalt number them after their families, by the house of their fathers; 30from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation. 31And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and 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 reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden. 33This is the service of the families of the sons of Mera´ri, according to all their service, in the tabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of Ith´amar the son of Aaron the priest.
34And Moses and Aaron and the chief of the congregation numbered the sons of the Ko´hathites after their families, and after the house of their fathers, 35from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation: 36and those that were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. 37These were they that were numbered of the families of the Ko´hathites, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, which Moses and Aaron did number according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
38And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon, throughout their families, and by the house of their fathers, 39from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation, 40even those that were numbered of them, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty. 41These are they that were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron did number according to the commandment of the Lord.
42And those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Mera´ri, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers, 43from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation, 44even those that were numbered of them after their families, were three thousand and two hundred. 45These be those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Mera´ri, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
46All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chief of Israel numbered, after their families, and after the house of their fathers, 47from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation, 48even those that were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred and fourscore. 49According to the commandment of the Lord they were numbered by the hand of Moses, every one according to his service, and according to his burden: thus were they numbered of him, as the Lord commanded Moses.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
Numbers 4
4
The Jobs of the Kohath Family
1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2“Count the men in the families of the Kohath family group. (The Kohath family group is a part of Levi’s family group.) 3Count all the men from 30 to 50 years old who come to serve. These men will work in the Meeting Tent. 4Their job is to take care of the most holy things in the Meeting Tent.
5“When the Israelites travel to a new place, Aaron and his sons must go into the Meeting Tent and take down the curtain and cover the Box of the Agreement with it. 6Then they must cover all of this with covering made from fine leather. Then they must spread the solid blue cloth over the leather and put the poles in the rings on the Holy Box.
7“Then they must spread a blue cloth over the holy table. Then they must put the plates, spoons, bowls, and the jars for drink offerings on the table. Put the special bread on the table. 8Then you must put a red cloth over all these things, cover everything with fine leather, and put the poles in the rings of the table.
9“Then they must cover the lampstand and its lamps with a blue cloth. They must also cover all the things used to keep the lamps burning and all the jars of oil that are used in the lamps. 10Then wrap everything in fine leather. Then they must put all these things on poles used for carrying them.
11“They must spread a blue cloth over the golden altar. They must cover that with fine leather. Then they must put the poles for carrying it in the rings on the altar.
12“Then they must gather together all the special things that are used for worship in the Holy Place. They must gather them together and wrap them in a blue cloth. Then they must cover that with fine leather. They must put these things on a frame for carrying them.
13“They must clean the ashes out of the bronze altar and spread a purple cloth over it. 14Then they must gather together all the things that are used for worship at the altar. These are the firepans, forks, shovels, and the bowls. They must put these things on the bronze altar. Then they must spread a covering of fine leather over the altar and put the poles for carrying it in the rings on the altar.
15“Aaron and his sons must finish covering all the holy things in the Holy Place. Then the men from the Kohath family can go in and begin carrying these things. In this way they will not touch the holy things and die.
16“Eleazar son of Aaron the priest will be responsible for the Holy Tent. He will be responsible for everything in it, including the holy things. He will be responsible for the oil for the lamp, the sweet-smelling incense, the daily offering,#4:16 daily offering Offerings that were made twice each day as a gift to God. and the anointing oil.”
17The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 18“Be careful! Don’t let these Kohathite men be destroyed. 19You must do these things so that the Kohathite men can go near the most holy things and not die. Aaron and his sons must go in and show each Kohathite man what to do and what to carry. 20If you don’t do this, the Kohathite men might go in and look at the holy things. If they look at these things, even for a moment, they must die.”
The Jobs of the Gershon Family
21The Lord said to Moses, 22“Count all the people of the Gershon family. List them by family and family group. 23Count all the men who are from 30 to 50 years old who come to serve. These men will have the job of caring for the Meeting Tent.
24“This is what the Gershonite family must do and the things they must carry: 25They must carry the curtains of the Holy Tent, the Meeting Tent, its covering, and the covering made from fine leather. They must also carry the curtain at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. 26They must carry the curtains of the courtyard that are around the Holy Tent and the altar. And they must carry the curtain for the entrance of the courtyard. They must also carry all the ropes and all the things that are used with the curtains. The Gershonite men will be responsible for anything that needs to be done with these things. 27Aaron and his sons will watch all the work that is done. Everything the Gershonites carry and the other work they do will be watched by Aaron and his sons. You must tell them what they are responsible for carrying. 28This is the work that the men of the Gershonite family group must do for the Meeting Tent. Ithamar son of Aaron the priest will be responsible for their work.”
The Jobs of the Merari Family
29“Count all the men in the families and family groups in the Merari family group. 30Count all the men who are from 30 to 50 years old and come to serve. These men will do a special work for the Meeting Tent. 31When you travel, it is their job to carry the frames of the Meeting Tent. They must carry the braces, the posts, and the bases. 32They must also carry the posts that are around the courtyard. They must carry the bases, the tent pegs, the ropes, and everything that is used for the poles around the courtyard. List the names and tell each man exactly what he must carry. 33This is what the people from the Merari family will do to serve in the work for the Meeting Tent. Ithamar son of Aaron the priest will be responsible for their work.”
The Levite Families
34Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the Israelites counted the Kohathites. They counted them by families and family groups. 35They counted all the men from 30 to 50 years old who were able to serve. These men were given special work to do for the Meeting Tent.
36There were 2750 men in the Kohath family group who were qualified to do this work. 37So these men from the Kohath family group were given their special work to do for the Meeting Tent. Moses and Aaron did this the way the Lord had told Moses to do.
38Also, the Gershonite family group was counted. 39All the men from 30 to 50 years old who qualified to serve were counted. These men were given their special work to do for the Meeting Tent. 40There were 2630 men in the families of the Gershon family group who were qualified. 41So these men from the Gershon family group were given their special work to do for the Meeting Tent. Moses and Aaron did this the way the Lord had told Moses to do.
42Also, the men in the families and family groups of the Merari family were counted. 43All the men from 30 to 50 years old who qualified to serve were counted. These men were given their special work to do for the Meeting Tent. 44There were 3200 men in the families of the Merari family group who were qualified. 45So these men from the Merari family group were given their special work. Moses and Aaron did this the way the Lord told Moses to do.
46So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the Israelites counted all the people in Levi’s family group. They had counted each family and each family group. 47All the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who qualified to serve were counted. These men were given a special work to do for the Meeting Tent. They did the work of carrying the Meeting Tent when they traveled. 48The total number was 8580. 49Each man was counted just as the Lord commanded Moses. Each man was given his own work and told what he must carry just as the Lord had said.
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