Numbers 4

1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, 2 “Take the total of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans, by their fathers' houses, 3 from twenty-five years old up to fifty years, everyone who comes in to do the work of the service, to do all the work in the tent of witness. [a] 4 And this is the work of the sons of Kohath in the tent of witness: it is the most holy of all.

5 When the camp is about to move on, Aaron and his sons are to go in and take down the screening veil, and cover the ark of the witness with it. 6 They are to put a covering of blue hide over it, and spread a cloth all of blue on top of that, and put the poles through the rings. 7 And over the table of the presence they are to spread a cloth all of purple, and set on it the dishes and the incense pans and the cups and the bowls that the drink offerings are poured from; and the standing loaves are to be on it. [b] 8 They are to put a scarlet cloth over it, and cover it with a covering of blue hide, and put its poles in. 9 And they are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand that gives the light, and its lamps, and its tongs, and its trays, and all the oil jars they use in the work of the service; 10 and they are to put it and all its fittings into a covering of blue hide, and set it on a carrying frame. 11 And over the golden altar they are to spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of blue hide, and put in its poles. 12 And they are to take all the tools of the service that they use in the holy place, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of blue hide, and set them on a carrying frame. 13 And he is to put the cover on the altar and spread a cloth all of purple over it, 14 and set on it all the tools they use at it — the fire pans, the meat forks, the bowls, the cover, and all the fittings of the altar — and they are to put a covering of blue hide over it and put in its poles. And they are to take a purple cloth and cover the basin and its stand, and put it into a covering of blue hide, and set it on a carrying frame.

15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy things and all the holy vessels, as the camp begins to move, then the sons of Kohath are to come in and lift them. But they are not to touch the holy things, or they will die. This is what the sons of Kohath carry from the tent of witness. 16 Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is the overseer. The oil for the light, the blended incense, the daily sacrifice and the anointing oil are his charge — the charge of the whole tent and everything in it, in the holy place, in all its work.” [c]

17 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, 18 “Do not let the clan of Kohath be wiped out from among the Levites. 19 Do this for them, so that they live and do not die when they come near the most holy things: Aaron and his sons are to go in and set each of them at his own task and to his own load, 20 so that they never come in and look on the holy things all at once, and die.”

21 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 22 “Take the total of the sons of Gershon as well, by their fathers' houses, by their clans. 23 Count them from twenty-five years old and up to the age of fifty, everyone who comes in to do the work of the service, to do his duty in the tent of witness. 24 This is the service of the clan of Gershon — to do the work of the service and to carry. 25 They are to carry the hides of the tent, and the tent of witness itself, and its veil, and the blue covering that was over it, and the covering of the door of the tent of witness, 26 and all the hangings of the court that were around the tent of witness, and the fittings, and all the tools of the service they use; and they are to look after them. 27 The service of the sons of Gershon is to be at the direction of Aaron and his sons, in all their service and all their work; and you are to assign to them by name everything they carry. 28 This is the service of the sons of Gershon in the tent of witness, and their charge is under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

29 The sons of Merari, by their clans, by their fathers' houses — count them. 30 Count them from twenty-five years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes in to carry out the services of the tent of witness. 31 And these are the loads charged to them, according to all their work in the tent of witness: they are to carry the tops of the tent, and its bars, and its posts, and its bases, and the veil, and the bases and posts that go with it, and the screen of the door of the tent, 32 and the posts of the court all around, with their bases; and the posts of the screen at the door of the court, with their bases and their pegs and their cords and all their fittings and all the tools of their service. Assign to them by name everything they are charged to carry. 33 This is the service of the clan of the sons of Merari, in all their work in the tent of witness, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”

34 So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted the sons of Kohath by their clans, by their fathers' houses, 35 from twenty-five years old and up to the age of fifty, everyone who comes in to do the work of the service in the tent of witness. 36 And the count of them by their clans was 2,750. [d] 37 This is the count of the clan of Kohath, everyone who does the work of the service in the tent of witness, as Moses and Aaron counted them at the word of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

38 And the sons of Gershon were counted by their clans, by their fathers' houses, 39 from twenty-five years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes in to do the work of the service in the tent of witness. 40 And the count of them by their clans, by their fathers' houses, was 2,630. 41 This is the count of the clan of the sons of Gershon, everyone who does the work of the service in the tent of witness, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the word of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

42 And the clan of the sons of Merari was counted too, by their clans, by their fathers' houses, 43 from twenty-five years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes in to do the work of the service in the tent of witness. 44 And the count of them by their clans, by their fathers' houses, was 3,200. 45 This is the count of the clan of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the word of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

46 All those counted, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted — the Levites, by their clans and by their fathers' houses, 47 from twenty-five years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes in to the work of the service and to the charge of what is carried in the tent of witness — 48 those counted came to 8,580. [e] 49 He counted them at the word of the Lord, by the hand of Moses, setting each man to his own work and to his own load; and they were counted as the Lord had commanded Moses.