Numbers 4

Modern

Literal

The Duties of the Kohathites

¹Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

¹And YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²“Take a census of the Kohathites among the Levites by their clans and families,

²“Take a census of the sons of Kohath from the midst of the sons of Levi, by their clans, by the house of their fathers,

³men from thirty to fifty years old—everyone who is qualified to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

³from a son of thirty years and above, and to a son of fifty years, all who enter the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

⁴This service of the Kohathites at the Tent of Meeting regards the most holy things.

⁴This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting: The holy of holies;

⁵Whenever the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons are to go in, take down the veil of the curtain, and cover the ark of the Testimony^a with it.

⁵and Aaron and his sons shall come in the setting forth of the camp, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover with it the ark of the Testimony.

⁶They are to place over this a covering of fine leather,^a spread a solid blue cloth over it, and insert its poles.

⁶And they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread a cloth entirely of blue over it, and they shall insert its poles.

⁷Over the table of the Presence they are to spread a blue cloth and place the plates and cups on it, along with the bowls and pitchers for the drink offering. The regular bread offering is to remain on it.

⁷And on the table of the Presence they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the pans, and the bowls, and the pitchers for the drink offering, and the bread shall continually be on it.

⁸And they shall spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover them with fine leather, and insert the poles.

⁸And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet yarn, and cover the same with a covering of badger skins, and they shall insert its poles.

⁹They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand used for light, together with its lamps, wick trimmers, and trays, as well as the jars of oil with which to supply it.

⁹And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its wick trimmers, and its firepans, and all its oil vessels with which they minister to it.

¹⁰Then they shall wrap it and all its utensils inside a covering of fine leather and put it on the carrying frame.

¹⁰And they shall put it and all its vessels in a covering of badger skins, and put it on the carrying pole.

¹¹Over the gold altar they are to spread a blue cloth, cover it with fine leather, and insert the poles.

¹¹And over the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badger skins, and they shall insert its poles.

¹²They are to take all the utensils for serving in the sanctuary, place them in a blue cloth, cover them with fine leather, and put them on the carrying frame.

¹²And they shall take all the vessels of service, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badger skins, and put them on a carrying beam.

¹³Then they shall remove the ashes from the bronze altar, spread a purple cloth over it,

¹³And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread over it a cloth of purple.

¹⁴and place on it all the vessels used to serve there: the firepans, meat forks, shovels, and sprinkling bowls—all the equipment of the altar. They are to spread over it a covering of fine leather and insert the poles.

¹⁴And they shall put on it all its implements with that they minister there, the firepans, the forks, and the shovels, and the basins, and all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of badger skins, and insert its poles.

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when is set to go the camp, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; and they shall not touch unto any holy thing, lest they die. These are the things that are to carry the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall oversee the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. He has oversight of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including the holy objects and their utensils.”

¹⁶And the appointed duty of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light, and the incense of spices, and the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

¹⁷And YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

¹⁸“Do not allow the Kohathite tribal clans to be cut off from among the Levites.

¹⁸“Do not cut off the tribe of the clans of the Kohathite from the midst of the Levites.

¹⁹In order that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go in and assign each man his task and what he is to carry.

¹⁹And this do in regard to them, that they may live and not die, when they approach the holy of holies: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint every man to his service and his task;

²⁰But the Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects, even for a moment, or they will die.”

²⁰they shall not go in to watch the holy things being covered, lest they die.”

The Duties of the Gershonites

²¹And the LORD said to Moses,

²¹And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

²²“Take a census of the Gershonites as well, by their families and clans,

²²“Take a census of the sons of Gershon, even them, by the house of their fathers, by their clans.

²³from thirty to fifty years old, counting everyone who comes to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

²³From a son of thirty years and above, even to a son of fifty years you shall number them, all who enter to perform the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

²⁴This is the service of the Gershonite clans regarding work and transport:

²⁴This is the service of the clans of the Gershonite in serving and carrying:

²⁵They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting with the covering of fine leather over it, the curtains for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

²⁵And they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting with its covering, and the covering of badger skins that is on it, and the screen of the door of the Tent of Meeting,

²⁶the curtains of the courtyard, and the curtains for the entrance at the gate of the courtyard that surrounds the tabernacle and altar, along with their ropes and all the equipment for their service. The Gershonites will do all that needs to be done with these items.

²⁶and the hangings of the court, and the screen of the door of the gate of the court that is around the tabernacle, and the altar all around, and their cords, and all the furnishings for their service, and all that is made for these things; and they shall serve.

²⁷All the service of the Gershonites—all their transport duties and other work—is to be done at the direction of Aaron and his sons; you are to assign to them all that they are responsible to carry.

²⁷Upon the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonite, all their tasks and all their service; and you shall appoint to them as their duty all their tasks.

²⁸This is the service of the Gershonite clans at the Tent of Meeting, and their duties shall be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

²⁸This is the service of the clans of the sons of the Gershonite in the Tent of Meeting, and their duties are by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

The Duties of the Merarites

²⁹As for the sons of Merari, you are to number them by their clans and families,

²⁹As for the sons of Merari, by their clans, and by the house of their fathers, you shall number them,

³⁰from thirty to fifty years old, counting everyone who comes to serve in the work of the Tent of Meeting.

³⁰from a son of thirty years and above, and to a son of fifty years, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service, to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.

³¹This is the duty for all their service at the Tent of Meeting: to carry the frames of the tabernacle with its crossbars, posts, and bases,

³¹And this is what they must carry as all their service for the Tent of Meeting: The boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases.

³²and the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, and ropes, including all their equipment and everything related to their use. You shall assign by name the items that they are responsible to carry.

³²And the pillars around the court, and their bases, and pegs, and cords, with all their furnishings, and all their service; and by name you shall assign the items of the charge of their burden.

³³This is the service of the Merarite clans according to all their work at the Tent of Meeting, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”

³³This is the service of the clans of the sons of Merari, as all their service, for the Tent of Meeting, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”

The Numbering of the Levite Clans

³⁴So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation numbered the Kohathites by their clans and families,

³⁴And Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathite by their clans, and by the house of their fathers,

³⁵everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

³⁵from a son of thirty years and above and to a son of fifty years, everyone who entered the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting.

³⁶And those numbered by their clans totaled 2,750.

³⁶And those numbered by their clans were two thousand seven hundred and fifty.

³⁷These were counted from the Kohathite clans, everyone who could serve at the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron numbered them according to the command of the LORD through Moses.

³⁷These were the ones who were numbered of the clans of the Kohathite, all who might serve in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, according to the commandment of YHWH, by the hand of Moses.

³⁸Then the Gershonites were numbered by their clans and families,

³⁸And those numbered of the sons of Gershon, by their clans, and by the house of their fathers,

³⁹everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

³⁹from a son of thirty years and above and to a son of fifty years, everyone who entered the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁰And those numbered by their clans and families totaled 2,630.

⁴⁰and those numbered by their clans, by the house of their fathers, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty.

⁴¹These were counted from the Gershonite clans who served at the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the LORD’s command.

⁴¹These are those numbered of the clans of the sons of Gershon, of all who might serve in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of YHWH.

⁴²And the Merarites were numbered by their clans and families,

⁴²And those numbered of the clans of the sons of Merari, by their clans, by the house of their fathers,

⁴³everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

⁴³from a son of thirty years and above and to a son of fifty years, everyone who entered the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁴The men registered by their clans numbered 3,200.

⁴⁴and those numbered by their clans, were three thousand and two hundred.

⁴⁵These were counted from the Merarite clans, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the LORD’s command through Moses.

⁴⁵These are those numbered of the clans of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, according to the word of YHWH, by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered by their clans and families all the Levites

⁴⁶All who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered of the Levites by their clans, and by the houses of their fathers,

⁴⁷from thirty to fifty years old who came to do the work of serving and carrying the Tent of Meeting.

⁴⁷from a son of thirty years and above and to a son of fifty years, everyone who came to do the work of the service and the work of bearing burdens in the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁸And the number of men was 8,580.

⁴⁸even those numbered were eight thousand and five hundred and eighty.

⁴⁹At the LORD’s command through Moses they were numbered, and each one was assigned his work and burden, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁴⁹According to the commandment of YHWH they were numbered by the hand of Moses, man by man according to his service, and according to his task; and they were numbered by him as YHWH commanded Moses.