Numbers 3

₁Here is a list of the descendants of Aaron and Moses on the day when the Lord talked to Moses on Mount Sinai. ₂Here are the names of the sons of Aaron: The oldest son was Nadab and the other sons were Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ₃These are the names of Aaron's sons, the anointed priests. Moses consecrated them to be priests. ₄Nadab and Abihu died in the Sinai Desert when they burnt coals that did not come from the altar and it did not please the Lord, so He caused them to die. They did not have any sons so only their 2 brothers, Eleazar and Ithamar, were priests with their father Aaron.

₅The Lord said to Moses: ₆‘Let the men from the Levi tribe come so that they can help the priest Aaron with his work. ₇They must work for all the people at the tent where I appear to the Israelites. They must do all the work at the tent of the Lord. ₈They must look after all the tools and everything at the tent. They must work for the Israelites and do all the work that they have to do at the tent of the Lord. ₉Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons to help them because the Israelites gave the Levites to Aaron and his sons to do this work. ₁₀Only Aaron and his sons may become priests. If someone else tries to do the work of the priests, you must kill him.’

₁₁The Lord said to Moses: ₁₂‘I have taken the Levites from the other Israelites. I did not take the oldest sons of the Israelites. I took the Levites in their place, and that is why they belong to Me. ₁₃All of the oldest sons and all of the firstborn farm animals are mine, from the day when I killed all the oldest sons in Egypt. Then I consecrated every boy and every animal that was born first to Me. They are mine. I am the Lord.’

₁₄The Lord talked to Moses in the Sinai Desert and He said: ₁₅‘You must write down the names of the Levites, their forefathers and their families in a book. Write down the names of every man and boy who is one month old or older.’

₁₆Moses then wrote down the names of the Levites as the Lord had said.

₁₇Here are the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

₁₈The names of the Gershon families were Libni and Shimei.

₁₉The Kohath families were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

₂₀Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi. These were the sons and grandsons of Levi, and they became the leaders of the Levite families.

₂₁The Libni family and the Shimei family were the descendants of Gershon. They were Gershon families.

₂₂There were 7 500 boys and men who were a month old or older and whose names were in the book. ₂₃The Gershon families had to put up their tents behind the tent of the Lord, west of where the tent was. ₂₄Their leader was Eliasaph, son of Lael. ₂₅The descendants of Gershon had to work at the tent of the Lord. They had to look after the tent, the material that covers the tent, the curtain for the door of the tent, ₂₆the curtains around the courtyard, the curtains for the door of the courtyard around the tent and the altar and the ropes. They had to do all the work that had to be done at the tent.

₂₇The families of Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel were the descendants of Kohath. They were Kohath families. ₂₈There were 8 600 men and boys who were one month old or older and whose names were written in the book. They had to do all the work at the tent of the Lord. ₂₉The Kohath families had to put up their tents next to the tent of the Lord to the southern side. ₃₀The leader of the Kohath families was Elizaphan, son of Uzziel. ₃₁They had to work with the covenant box, the table, the lamp-stand, the altars and holy tools with it, the curtains and everything that had to do with the covenant box.

₃₂The first leader of the Levi tribe was Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest. He had to see that the Levites did all the work at the tent of the Lord.

₃₃The Mahli family and Mushi family were the descendants of Merari. ₃₄There were 6 200 men and boys who were one month old or older and whose names were in the book. ₃₅The leader of the Merari families was Zuriel, son of Abihail. They put up their tents next to the tent of the Lord, north of the tent. ₃₆The Merari families had to work with the frames of the tent of the Lord, the crossbars, the poles, the stands and all the other things with it, ₃₇the poles around the courtyard and the stands and pegs and ropes.

₃₈Moses and Aaron and his sons had to put up their tents in front of the tent of the Lord, east of the tent. Only Aaron and his sons had to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of the Lord. If anyone else tried to do this priestly work, they had to kill him. ₃₉The Lord told Moses and Aaron to write down the names of the Levites and their families in a book. There were 22 000 men and boys who were one month old or older.

₄₀The Lord said to Moses: ‘Count all the firstborn sons of Israel and write down their names in a book, of everyone who is one month old or older. ₄₁But you must take the Levites in place of the oldest sons of Israel and you must take the animals of the Levites in place of the firstborn lambs and calves of the Israelites.’

₄₂Moses did what the Lord told him to do. He wrote down the names of the oldest sons of the Israelites in a book, of everyone who was one month old or older. ₄₃There were 22 273 in all.

₄₄The Lord said to Moses: ₄₅‘You must take the Levites in place of the oldest sons of the Israelites and you must take the Levites' animals in the place of the Israelites' animals. The Levites belong to Me. I am the Lord. ₄₆But the firstborn sons of Israel are more than the Levites. There are 273 more. You must buy them back. ₄₇Tell them to buy back each of those 273 boys for 5 shekels of silver. They must be temple-shekels. Each temple-shekel weighs 20 gerahs. ₄₈You must take the money that you get for the people that they buy back and you must give it to Aaron and his sons.’

₄₉Moses took the money from the people who bought back the 273 boys who were more than the Levites. ₅₀He took it from the firstborn sons of the Israelites. There were 1 365 temple-shekels, ₅₁and Moses gave the money to Aaron and his sons, as the Lord had told him to do.