Numbers 4

₁The Lord talked to Moses and Aaron and said: ₂‘You must count the Kohath family and write down whose descendants they are and from which family each one of them comes. ₃You must count everyone who can work between 30 and 50 years old. They must work in the tent of the Lord. ₄The Kohath family must work with the most_holy things of the tent where God appears to the Israelites. ₅When the people leave and go out of the camp, then Aaron and his sons must come and take down the curtain of the most_holy room. They must cover the covenant box in which the 10 commandments are with the curtain. ₆Then they must cover the covenant box with soft leather and put blue wool material over the leather. Then they must put the carrying poles into the rings of the covenant box. ₇They must take blue cloth and cover the table where the sacrificial bread always is. Then they must put the dishes on the table with the pans, the bowls and pots and the jars with the wine for the drink-offering. They must also put the sacrificial bread on the table. ₈They must put a red cloth over it and cover everything with a piece of soft leather. Then they must put the carrying poles into the rings of the table.

₉They must take blue cloth and cover the lamp-stand with it, with the lamps and lamp-snuffers to put out the lamps and the jars of oil for the lamps. ₁₀They must cover all of it with leather and put everything onto poles to carry it.

₁₁They must cover the golden altar with blue cloth and put leather over it. Then they must put the carrying poles into the rings of the altar. ₁₂Then they must take all the tools that they use in the tent of the Lord and cover them with a blue cloth and put leather over them and put them all onto poles to carry them. ₁₃They must clean all the ash from the altar and cover it with purple cloth. ₁₄Then they must put all the tools for the altar, the buckets, forks, shovels and the bowls onto the altar and they must cover it with leather. They must put the carrying poles into the rings of the altar.

₁₅When the people must go away from the camp, Aaron and his sons must first cover the tent of the Lord and all its tools. When they have finished doing that, the Kohath family may come and carry it. They may not touch anything that is holy. If they do, they will die. The work of the Kohath family is to carry the tent of the Lord.

₁₆Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, must make sure that there is olive oil for the lamps, incense, anointing-oil and wheat-offerings for every day. He must make sure that the people do everything that they should do at the tent of the Lord and that they use the tools in the right way.’

₁₇The Lord talked to Moses and Aaron and said to them: _18-20‘Aaron and his sons must come and tell each person in the Kohath family what he must do and what he must carry. The people of the Kohath family may not look at anything that is most_holy, because if one of them looks at it, he will die. You must not cause them to die and stop them from living among the Levites. You must tell them what to do so that they can keep on living.’

₂₁The Lord said to Moses: ₂₂‘You must also count everyone in the Gershon family, and write down which family each of them belongs to and who his forefathers were. ₂₃You must count everyone who can work between 30 and 50 years old. They must work in the tent of the Lord. ₂₄Here is a list of all the things that the Gershon family must do and what they must carry: ₂₅They must carry all the pieces_of_material of the tent of the Lord, where the Lord appears to the Israelites, the cloth and the leather that covers it and the curtain for the door of the tent. ₂₆They must also carry the curtains around the courtyard and the curtain at the door of the courtyard around the tent of the Lord and the altar, and also the ropes and everything else that goes with it. The Gershon family must do everything that has to be done at the altar. ₂₇They must do everything that Aaron and his sons tell them to do. They must carry everything and do the work they have to do. ₂₈This is the work that the Gershon family has to do at the tent of the Lord. Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest, must make sure that they all do their work.’

₂₉The Lord said: ‘You must count the Merari family and write down whose descendants they are and from which families they come. ₃₀You must count everyone who can work between 30 and 50 years old. They must work in the tent of the Lord. ₃₁Here is a list of everything that the Merari family must carry and what they must do. They must carry the frames of the tent of the Lord, the crossbars and the poles and the stands of the tent, ₃₂the poles of the courtyard around the tent of the Lord and the stands and pegs and ropes and everything at the tent. You must tell each person what he must carry. ₃₃This is the work that the Merari family must do at the tent of the Lord. Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest, must make sure that they all do their work.’

₃₄Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation counted the Kohath family and they wrote down who their forefathers were and to which family everyone belonged. ₃₅They counted everyone between 30 and 50 years old and they wrote down who their forefathers were and from which family they came. ₃₆There were 2 750 people in the Kohath family. ₃₇These were all the descendants of the Kohath family who worked in the tent of the Lord. The Lord told Moses that he, Aaron and the leaders must count the Kohath family, and they did.

₃₈Moses and Aaron also counted the Gershon family. They wrote down who their forefathers were and from which family they came. ₃₉They counted everyone between 30 and 50 years old who could work in the tent of the Lord. ₄₀There were 2 630 people in the Gershon family. ₄₁These were all the descendants of Gershon who worked at the tent of the Lord. The Lord told Moses, Aaron and the leaders to count the Gershon family, and they did.

₄₂Moses and Aaron also counted the Merari family. They wrote down who their forefathers were and from which families they came. ₄₃They counted everyone between 30 and 50 years old who could work at the tent of the Lord. ₄₄There were 3 200 people in the Merari family. ₄₅These were all descendants of Merari who worked at the tent of the Lord. The Lord told Moses, Aaron and the leaders to count the Merari family, and they did.

₄₆Moses, Aaron and the leaders_of_Israel counted all the Levites and they wrote down who their forefathers were and from which families they came. ₄₇They counted everyone between 30 and 50 years old who could work at the tent of the Lord. ₄₈There were 8 580 Levites. ₄₉The Lord told Moses that he and the other leaders must count the Levites and they must tell each family what work they must do at the tent of the Lord and what each one must carry.