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 eliminated from among the Levites. 19Rather, do this for them so that they will 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 come in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

21Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 22“Take a 3census of the sons of Gershon 4also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; 23from 5thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall 6count them: all who can enter to perform 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 fine leather that is on top of it, and the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting, 26and 9the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the gate of the courtyard that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes and all the equipment for their service; and everything that is to be done 10by them, 11they shall perform. 27All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, that is, all their loads and all their work, shall be performed at the 12command 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 13under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

29“As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families, by their fathers’ households; 30from 14thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, you shall count them, everyone who can enter 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, its bars, its pillars, and its bases, 32and the pillars around the courtyard and their bases, their pegs, and their ropes, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign by names of the men the items 15that each 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, 16under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

34So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households, 35from 17thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting. 36Their numbered men by their families were 2,750. 37These were the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the 18commandment of the Lord 19through Moses.

38And the numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households, 39from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting-- 40their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630. 41These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the 20commandment of the Lord.

42And the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households, 43from 21thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting-- 44their numbered men by their families were 3,200. 45These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the 22commandment of the Lord 23through Moses.

46All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ households, 47from thirty years old 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 248,580. 49According to the 25commandment of the Lord 26through Moses, they 27were counted, everyone by his serving or carrying; so these were his numbered men, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.