Numbers 4

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

Take the sum of the sons of Kaath from among the sons of Levi, by their divisions, by their ancestral houses,

from twenty-five years old and upward and until fifty years, everyone who enters to minister, to do all the works in the tent of witness.

And these are the works of the sons of Kaath in the tent of witness: the holy of holies.

And Aaron and his sons shall go in when the camp sets out, and they shall take down the overshadowing veil and shall cover with it the ark of the witness;

and they shall put upon it a covering of blue skin, and shall lay over it from above a cloth wholly of blue, and shall insert the carrying poles.

And upon the table that is set out they shall spread an all-purple cloth, and the dishes and the censers and the cups and the libation vessels with which one pours the libation; and the perpetual loaves shall be upon it.

And they shall spread over it a scarlet cloth, and shall cover it with a covering of hyacinth-coloured skin, and shall put the carrying-poles through it.

And they shall take a hyacinth-coloured cloth and shall cover the lampstand that gives light, and its lamps and its tongs and its oil-pourers and all the vessels of oil with which they minister.

And they shall put it and all its utensils into a covering of hyacinth-coloured skin, and shall set it upon carrying-poles.

And over the golden altar they shall spread a hyacinth-coloured cloth, and shall cover it with a covering of hyacinth-coloured skin, and shall put through its carrying-poles.

And they shall take all the ministering utensils, as many as they minister with in the holy places, and shall put them into a hyacinth-coloured cloth, and shall cover them with a covering of hyacinth-coloured skin, and shall set them upon carrying-poles.

And he shall put the cover upon the altar, and they shall spread over it an all-purple cloth.

And they shall set upon it all the utensils with which they minister upon it: the firepans and the flesh-hooks and the bowls and the cover and all the utensils of the altar; and they shall cast upon it a covering of hyacinth-coloured skin, and shall put through its carrying-poles. And they shall take a purple cloth and shall cover over the laver and its base, and shall put them into a covering of hyacinth-coloured skin, and shall set them upon carrying-poles.

And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy things and all the holy utensils, when the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kaath shall come in to carry them; but they shall not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are what the sons of Kaath shall carry in the tent of witness.

The overseer is Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest: the oil of the light, and the incense of the compound, and the daily sacrifice, and the oil of anointing; the oversight of the whole tabernacle and of all that is in it, in the holy place, in all the works.

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

Do not destroy from among the Levites the clan of Kaath of the tribe.

Do this for them, and they shall live and shall not die when they draw near to the holy of holies: Aaron and his sons shall go in and shall appoint them, each one to his own burden.

And they shall not go in to look suddenly upon the holy things, and so they shall die.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Take the sum of the sons of Gedson, these also, by their ancestral houses, by their clans.

From twenty-five years old and upward until fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who enters to minister and to do his work in the tent of witness.

This is the ministry of the clan of Gedson: to minister and to carry.

And he shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of witness, and its covering, and the hyacinth-coloured covering that is upon it above, and the covering of the door of the tent of witness,

and the hangings of the court, as many as are about the tent of witness, and the remainder, and all the ministering utensils with which they minister: these they shall attend to.

According to the mouth of Aaron and of his sons shall be the ministry of the sons of Gedson, in all their ministries and in all that is carried by them; and you shall number them by name, in all that is carried by them.

This is the ministry of the sons of Gedson in the tent of witness; and their charge is in the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

The sons of Merari: by their clans, by their ancestral houses, number them.

From twenty-five years old and upward until fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who enters to minister in the works of the tent of witness.

And these are the charges of the things carried by them, according to all their works in the tent of witness: the capitals of the tabernacle, and the bars, and its pillars, and its bases, and the veil, and their bases, and their pillars, and the veil of the door of the tabernacle;

and the pillars of the court round about, and their bases, and the pillars of the veil of the gate of the court, and their bases, and their pegs, and their cords, and all their utensils, and all their services; by name you shall number them, and all the utensils of the charge of the things carried by them.

This is the ministry of the clan of the sons of Merari, in all their works in the tent of witness, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

And Moses and Aaron and the rulers of Israel numbered the sons of Kaath by their clans, by their ancestral houses,

from twenty-five years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who enters to minister and to work in the tent of witness.

And their numbering, by their clans, came to two thousand two hundred fifty.

This is the numbering of the clan of Kaath, everyone who ministers in the tent of witness, as Moses and Aaron numbered them by the voice of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

And the sons of Gedson were numbered by their clans, by their ancestral houses,

from twenty-five years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who enters to minister and to do the works in the tent of witness.

And their numbering, by their clans, by their ancestral houses, came to two thousand six hundred thirty.

This is the numbering of the clan of the sons of Gedson, everyone who ministers in the tent of witness, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the voice of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

And the clan of the sons of Merari were also numbered, by their clans, by their ancestral houses,

from twenty-five years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who enters to minister for the works of the tent of witness.

And their numbering, by their clans, by their ancestral houses, came to three thousand two hundred.

This is the numbering of the clan of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the voice of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

All who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron and the rulers of Israel numbered, the Levites, by clans, by their ancestral houses,

from twenty-five years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who enters for the work of the works and the works of carrying in the tent of witness:

and those numbered came to eight thousand five hundred eighty.

By the voice of the Lord he numbered them, by the hand of Moses, man by man, over their works and over what they carry; and they were numbered in the manner that the Lord commanded Moses.