¹ And Jehovah saith unto Aaron, `Thou, and thy sons, and the house of thy father with thee, do bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and thou, and thy sons with thee, do bear the iniquity of your priesthood;

² and also thy brethren, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, and they are joined unto thee, and serve thee, even thou and thy sons with thee, before the tent of the testimony.

³ `And they have kept thy charge, and the charge of all the tent; only, unto the vessels of the sanctuary and unto the altar they do not come near, and they die not, either they or you;

⁴ and they have been joined unto thee, and have kept the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; and a stranger doth not come near unto you;

⁵ and ye have kept the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar, and there is no more wrath against the sons of Israel.

⁶ `And I, lo, I have taken your brethren the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; to you a gift they are given by Jehovah, to do the service of the tent of meeting;

⁷ and thou, and thy sons with thee, do keep your priesthood, for everything of the altar, and within the vail, and ye have served; a service of gift I make your priesthood; and the stranger who is coming near is put to death.'

⁸ And Jehovah speaketh unto Aaron: `And I, lo, I have given to thee the charge of My heave-offerings, of all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel -- to thee I have given them for the anointing, and to thy sons, by a statute age-during.

⁹ This is thine of the most holy things, from the fire: all their offering, to all their present, and to all their sin-offering, and to all their guilt-offering, which they give back to Me, is most holy to thee, and to thy sons;

¹⁰ in the holy of holies thou dost eat it; every male doth eat it; holy it is to thee.

¹¹ `And this [is] thine: the heave-offering of their gift, to all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel, to thee I have given them, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute age-during; every clean one in thy house doth eat it;

¹² all the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine, and wheat -- their first-[fruits] which they give to Jehovah -- to thee I have given them.

¹³ `The first-fruits of all that [is] in their land, which they bring in to Jehovah, are thine; every clean one in thy house doth eat it;

¹⁴ every devoted thing in Israel is thine,

¹⁵ every one opening a womb of all flesh which they bring near to Jehovah, among man and among beast, is thine; only, thou dost certainly ransom the first-born of man, and the firstling of the unclean beast thou dost ransom.

¹⁶ `And their ransomed ones from a son of a month, thou dost ransom with thy valuation, of silver, five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty gerahs it [is].

¹⁷ `Only, the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou dost not ransom, holy they [are]: their blood thou dost sprinkle on the altar, and of their fat thou makest perfume, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah,

¹⁸ and their flesh is thine, as the breast of the wave-offering, and as the right leg, it is thine;

¹⁹ all the heave-offerings of the holy things which the sons of Israel lift up to Jehovah I have given to thee and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute age-during, a covenant of salt, age-during it [is] before Jehovah, to thee and to thy seed with thee.'

²⁰ And Jehovah saith unto Aaron, `In their land thou dost not inherit, and a portion thou hast not in their midst: I [am] thy portion, and thine inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel;

²¹ and to the sons of Levi, lo, I have given all the tenth in Israel for inheritance in exchange for their service which they are serving -- the service of the tent of meeting.

²² `And the sons of Israel come no more near unto the tent of meeting, to bear sin, to die,

²³ and the Levites have done the service of the tent of meeting, and they -- they bear their iniquity; a statute age-during to your generations, that in the midst of the sons of Israel they have no inheritance;

²⁴ but the tithe of the sons of Israel which they lift up to Jehovah, a heave-offering, I have given to the Levites for inheritance; therefore I have said of them, In the midst of the sons of Israel they have no inheritance.'

²⁵ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

²⁶ `And unto the Levites thou dost speak; and thou hast said unto them, When ye take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given to you from them, for your inheritance, then ye have lifted up from it the heave-offering of Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe;

²⁷ and your heave-offering hath been reckoned to you as corn from the threshing-floor, and as fulness from the wine-vat;

²⁸ so ye do lift up -- ye also -- the heave-offering of Jehovah from all your tithes which ye receive from the sons of Israel; and ye have given from it the heave-offering of Jehovah to Aaron the priest;

²⁹ out of all your gifts ye do lift up the whole heave-offering of Jehovah; out of all its fat, -- its hallowed part -- out of it.

³⁰ `And thou hast said unto them, In your lifting up its fat out of it, then it hath been reckoned to the Levites, as increase of a threshing-floor, and as increase of a wine-vat;

³¹ and ye have eaten it in every place, ye and your households, for it [is] your hire in exchange for your service in the tent of meeting;

³² and ye bear no sin for it, in your lifting up its fat out of it, and the holy things of the sons of Israel ye do not pollute, and ye die not.'

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.