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Numbers 4:1-49 — Duties of the Levite Clans

Num.4.1-49

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²"Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families and by their fathers' houses, ³from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting. ⁴This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting: the most holy things. ⁵When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the curtain of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. ⁶Then they shall put over it a covering of fine leather , spread over that a cloth all of blue, and put its poles in place. ⁷On the table of the Presence they shall spread a blue cloth and place on it the plates, the pans, the jars, and the bowls for the drink offering; and the continual bread shall remain on it. ⁸They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, cover it with a covering of fine leather, and put its poles in place. ⁹They shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand for the light, its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all its oil vessels by which they minister with it. ¹⁰Then they shall put it and all its vessels inside a covering of fine leather and place it on the carrying frame. ¹¹On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, cover it with a covering of fine leather, and put its poles in place. ¹²They shall take all the utensils of ministry with which they minister in the holy place, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of fine leather, and place them on the carrying frame. ¹³They shall remove the ashes from the altar and spread over it a purple cloth. ¹⁴They shall place on it all its utensils with which they minister there: the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar. Then they shall spread over it a covering of fine leather and put its poles in place. ¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the utensils of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them. But they shall not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the load of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁶Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have oversight of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continual grain offering, and the anointing oil—the oversight of the whole Tabernacle and all that is in it, the holy place and its utensils." ¹⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ¹⁸"Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. ¹⁹But do this for them, so that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each man to his service and to his load. ²⁰But they shall not go in to look at the holy things even for a moment , or they will die." ²¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²²"Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' houses and by their families. ²³From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, you shall count them, everyone who comes to perform the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting. ²⁴This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, for service and for load-bearing: ²⁵They shall carry the curtains of the Tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, and the covering of fine leather that is over it above, and the screen for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; ²⁶and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court that is around the Tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes, and all the equipment for their service. Whatever is to be done with them, they shall do. ²⁷All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their service, shall be under the direction of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them in charge all their loads. ²⁸This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting, and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest." ²⁹"As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families and by their fathers' houses. ³⁰From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, you shall count them, everyone who comes to the service to do the work of the Tent of Meeting. ³¹And this is the charge of their load for all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the boards of the Tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; ³²and the pillars of the court all around, with their bases, their pegs, and their ropes, with all their equipment and all their service. By name you shall count the items of the charge of their load. ³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, for all their service in the Tent of Meeting, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest." ³⁴So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers' houses, ³⁵from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who came to the service for work in the Tent of Meeting. ³⁶Their counted men by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty. ³⁷These were the counted men of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to Yahweh's command through Moses. ³⁸And the counted men of the sons of Gershon, by their families and by their fathers' houses, ³⁹from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who came to the service for work in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁰their counted men by their families and by their fathers' houses were two thousand six hundred thirty. ⁴¹These were the counted men of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to Yahweh's command. ⁴²And the counted men of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families and by their fathers' houses, ⁴³from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who came to the service for work in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁴their counted men by their families were three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵These were the counted men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to Yahweh's command through Moses. ⁴⁶All the counted men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers' houses, ⁴⁷from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who came to do the work of service and the work of load-bearing in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁸their counted men were eight thousand five hundred eighty. ⁴⁹According to Yahweh's command, they counted them through Moses, each man according to his service and according to his load; thus they were counted, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

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4/11/2026

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