Numbers 4:17-49

17Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 18“Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. 19But do this to them that they may live and 1not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load; 20but 2they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

21Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 22“Take 3a census of the sons of Gershon 4also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; 23from 5thirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall 6number them; all who enter to perform the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. 24This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: 25they shall carry 7the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and 8the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, 26and 9the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, 10they shall perform. 27All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their work, shall be performed at the 11command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads. 28This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their duties shall be 12under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

29“As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households; 30from 13thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tent of meeting. 31Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its 14sockets, 32and the pillars around the court and their 15sockets and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items 16he is to carry. 33This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, 17under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

34So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households, 35from 18thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. 36Their numbered men by their families were 2,750. 37These are the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the 19commandment of the Lord 20through Moses.

38The numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households, 39from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. 40Their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630. 41These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the 21commandment of the Lord.

42The numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households, 43from 22thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. 44Their numbered men by their families were 3,200. 45These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the 23commandment of the Lord 24through Moses.

46All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ households, 47from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting. 48Their numbered men were 258,580. 49According to the 26commandment of the Lord 27through Moses, they 28were numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.