¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

² "Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' houses,

³ from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all who enter into the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

⁴ "This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting, the most holy things.

⁵ When the camp moves forward, Aaron shall go in, and his sons, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the Testimony with it,

⁶ and shall put a covering of sealskin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles.

⁷ "On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.

⁸ They shall spread on them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

⁹ "They shall take a blue cloth, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it.

¹⁰ They shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of sealskin, and shall put it on the frame.

¹¹ "On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

¹² "They shall take all the vessels of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of sealskin, and shall put them on the frame.

¹³ "They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it.

¹⁴ They shall put on it all its vessels, with which they minister about it, the fire pans, the flesh hooks, the shovels, and the basins; all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of sealskin, and put in its poles.

¹⁵ "When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it: but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶ "The duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the continual meal offering, and the anointing oil, the requirements of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, the sanctuary, and its furnishings."

¹⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

¹⁸ "Don't cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites;

¹⁹ but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them everyone to his service and to his burden;

²⁰ but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die."

²¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²² "Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' houses, by their families;

²³ you shall count them from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old; all who enter in to wait on the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

²⁴ "This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens:

²⁵ they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, and the covering of sealskin that is above on it, and the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,

²⁶ and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and around the altar, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and whatever shall be done with them. Therein shall they serve.

²⁷ At the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burden, and in all their service; and you shall appoint their duty to them in all their responsibilities.

²⁸ This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting: and their duty shall be under the hand 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' houses;

³⁰ you shall count them from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who enters on the service, to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.

³¹ This is the duty of their burden, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the tabernacle's boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets,

³² and the pillars of the court around it, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name you shall appoint the instruments of the duty of their burden.

³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the Tent of Meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest."

³⁴ Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers' houses,

³⁵ from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting.

³⁶ Those who were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty.

³⁷ These are those who were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.

³⁸ Those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, their families, and by their fathers' houses,

³⁹ from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁰ even those who were numbered of them, by their families, by their fathers' houses, were two thousand six hundred thirty.

⁴¹ These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Yahweh.

⁴² Those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers' houses,

⁴³ from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁴ even those who were numbered of them by their families, were three thousand two hundred.

⁴⁵ These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.

⁴⁶ All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel numbered, by their families, and by their fathers' houses,

⁴⁷ from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered in to do the work of service, and the work of bearing burdens in the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁸ even those who were numbered of them, were eight thousand five hundred eighty.

⁴⁹ According to the commandment of Yahweh they were numbered by Moses, everyone according to his service, and according to his burden. Thus were they numbered by him, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

¹ The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,

² and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."

³ He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

⁵ They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."

⁶ Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him.

⁷ He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.

⁸ See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."

⁹ They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.

¹⁰ But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

¹¹ They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

¹² The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:

¹³ for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it."

¹⁴ Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.

¹⁵ When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city."

¹⁶ But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

¹⁷ It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!"

¹⁸ Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.

¹⁹ See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.

²⁰ See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."

²¹ He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

²² Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴ Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.

²⁵ He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.

²⁸ He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

³⁰ Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.

³¹ The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.

³² Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

³³ They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.

³⁴ It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

³⁵ They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

³⁶ Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.

³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

³⁸ The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.