Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' households,

From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, all who enter into the service to perform the skilled work in the Tent of Meeting.

This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting concerning the most holy things.

When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in, and they shall take down the veil of the screen and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it,

And they shall put on it a covering of porpoise skin, and shall spread over it a cloth all of blue strands, and shall put in its poles.

And over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the plates and the spoons and the bowls and the pitchers of the drink offering; and the continual bread shall be on it.

And they shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put in its poles.

And they shall take a blue cloth, and cover the lampstand of the light and its lamps and its tongs and its firepans and all its oil vessels with which they minister to it.

And they shall put it and all its utensils within a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put it on the carrying frame.

And over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put in its poles.

And they shall take all the utensils of ministry with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put them on the carrying frame.

And they shall remove the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it.

And they shall put upon it all its utensils with which they minister upon it, the firepans, the forks, and the shovels, and the basins-all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread over it a covering of porpoise skin, and put in its poles.

And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, whenever 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 things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting.

And the oversight of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light and the fragrant incense and the continual meal offering and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, the sanctuary and its furnishings.

Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites;

But do this to them that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each one of them to his service and to his burden;

But the Kohathites shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment; otherwise they will die.

Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Take the sum of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' households, by their families;

From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who enters to carry out the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

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

They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, and the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,

And the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court, which is around the tabernacle and around the altar, and their cords, and all the equipment for their service; and whatever is to be done with them, so shall they do.

All the service of the sons of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all their burden and in all their service; and you shall assign to them the charge of all they are to carry.

This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting, and their charge shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers' households;

From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who enters into the service to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.

And this is the charge of what they are to carry, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its sockets,

And the pillars around the court and their sockets and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign by name the equipment they have been charged to carry.

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

And Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the assembly numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers' households,

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

And those who were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty.

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 Jehovah through Moses.

And those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers' households,

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

Even those who were numbered of them, by their families, by their fathers' households were two thousand six hundred thirty.

These were those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah.

And those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers' households,

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

Even those who were numbered of them by their families were three thousand two hundred.

These were those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah through Moses.

All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers' households,

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

Even those who were numbered of them were eight thousand five hundred eighty.

According to the commandment of Jehovah through Moses they were numbered, everyone according to his service and according to his burden; thus they were numbered by him, just as Jehovah had commanded Moses.