tabernacle of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh near shall be put to death.
39 All that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.
40 And the LORD said to Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
41 And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
42 And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel.
43 And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and seventy and three.
44 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
45 Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.
46 And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and seventy and three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites;
47 Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them : (the shekel is twenty gerahs:)
48 And thou shalt give to Aaron and to his sons the money, by which the odd number of them is to be redeemed,
49 And Moses took the redemption money of them that were over and above them that were redeemed by the Levites:
50 Of the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money; a thousand three hundred and sixty and five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:
51 And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed to Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.
CHAP. 4.
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers,
3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.
4 This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things:
5 And when the camp moveth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of testimony with it:
6 And shall put on it the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staffs of it.
7 And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover with: and the continual bread shall be on it: [1]
8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put in the staffs of it.
9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its tongs, and its snuffdishes, and all its oil vessels, by which they serve it:
10 And they shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put it upon a bar.
11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to it its staffs:
12 And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, by which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put them on a bar:
13 And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it:
14 And they shall put upon it all its vessels, by which they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to it its staffs. [2]
15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to move forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it : but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.
16 And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, in the sanctuary, and in its vessels.
17 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
