⁴⁷ But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.

⁴⁸ For the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying,

⁴⁹ Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel:

⁵⁰ But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.

⁵¹ And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

⁵² And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts.

⁵³ But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.

⁵⁴ And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they.

⁶ Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.

⁷ And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.

⁸ And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

⁹ And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.

¹⁰ And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

¹¹ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

¹² And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;

¹³ Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the Lord.

¹⁴ And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

¹⁵ Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.

¹⁶ And Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded.

⁹ Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?

⁵⁷ And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites: of Merari, the family of the Merarites.

⁵⁸ These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begat Amram.

⁵⁹ And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.

⁶⁰ And unto Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

⁶¹ And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the Lord.

⁶² And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.