Read the Bible

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 to fifty years old, all who can enter into the host to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.⁴ This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation concerning the most holy things;⁵ And when the camp marches forward, Aaron and his sons shall come in, 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 all of blue, and shall put in the poles thereof.⁷ And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put upon it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, the flagons for drink offering; and the continual shewbread shall be on it;⁸ And they shall spread thereon a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers skins, and shall put in the poles thereof.⁹ And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light and its lamps and its tongs and its snuffdishes and all the oil vessels thereof with which they minister to it;¹⁰ And they shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of badgers skins, and shall put it upon its poles.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 it upon its poles;¹² And they shall take all the vessels of the ministry wherewith 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 poles;¹³ And they shall take apart the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it;¹⁴ And they shall put with it all the vessels thereof, with which they minister upon it, the censers, the meathooks and the shovels and the basins and all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers skins, and put in its poles.¹⁵ And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to march after that, the sons of Kohath shall come in to bear it, that they may not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are to be borne by the sons of Kohath in the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.¹⁶ And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertains the charge of the oil for the light and the sweet incense and the daily meal offering and the anointing oil and the oversight of all the tabernacle and of all the things that are in it and of the sanctuary and its vessels.¹⁷ And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,¹⁸ You shall not destroy the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites;¹⁹ But do this to them, that they may live, and not die, when they enter into the most holy place; Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden;²⁰ But they shall not go in to observe when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

²¹ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,²² Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families:²³ From thirty years old and up until fifty years old you shall number them; all who are able-bodied to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.²⁴ This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and to bear burdens;²⁵ They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation itself, the veil of the door thereof, and the covering of the badgers skins that is upon it, and the hangings of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,²⁶ And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the entrance of the door of the court which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and the cords thereof, and all the instruments of their service, and all that they do and serve.²⁷ At the command of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of Gershon, in all their burdens and in all their service; and you shall appoint unto them in charge all their burdens.²⁸ This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation; and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.²⁹ As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them after their families, by the house of their fathers;³⁰ From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall number them, every able man, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.³¹ And this is the charge of their burden, and of all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, its bars and its pillars and its sockets³² And the pillars of the court round about and their sockets, their pins and their cords, with all their instruments and with all their service; and by name you shall count the instruments included in their burden.³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, and all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

³⁴ And Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites after their families, by the house of their fathers,³⁵ From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, every able man, for the work of the tabernacle of the congregation;³⁶ And their number by their families was two thousand and seven hundred and fifty.³⁷ These were the numbers of the families of Kohath, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.³⁸ And the number of the sons of Gershon by their families, and by the house of their fathers,³⁹ From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, every able man, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation,⁴⁰ And their number by their families and by the house of their fathers was two thousand and six hundred and thirty.⁴¹ These were the numbers of the family of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD.⁴² And the number of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by the house of their fathers,⁴³ From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, every able man, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation,⁴⁴ And their number by their families was three thousand and two hundred.⁴⁵ These are the numbers of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.⁴⁶ All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel numbered, after their families and by the house of their fathers,⁴⁷ From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all able men, to do the service of the ministry and the work of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation,⁴⁸ Their number was eight thousand and five hundred and eighty.⁴⁹ According to the commandment of the LORD they were numbered by the hand of Moses, every one according to his service and according to his burden; thus they were numbered as the LORD commanded Moses.