CHAPTER 4

¹And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²“Count the heads of the Kohathites from the midst of the Levites by their clans, by their fathers’ houses. ³From thirty years old up till fifty years old, all who come to the army to do the task in the Tent of Meeting. ⁴This is the work of the Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting, the holy of holies. ⁵And Aaron shall come, and his sons, when the camp journeys onward, and take down the covering of the screen and cover with it the Ark of the Covenant. ⁶And they shall place over it a cover of ocher-dyed skin and spread a garment of pure indigo above it and put in its poles. ⁷And on the table of the Presence they shall spread an indigo garment and place on it the bowls and the ladles and the jars and the libation flasks, and the perpetual bread shall be upon it. ⁸And they shall spread over them a crimson garment and cover it in a covering of ocher-dyed skin and put in its poles. ⁹And they shall take an indigo garment and cover the lamp stand of the light and its lamps and its tongs and its fire-pans and all its oil vessels with which they serve. ¹⁰And they shall place it and all its vessels in a covering of ocher-dyed skin and place it on a beam. ¹¹And over the golden altar they shall spread an indigo garment and cover it with a covering of ocher-dyed skin and put in its poles. ¹²And they shall take all the vessels of service with which they serve in the sanctuary and place them in an indigo garment and cover them with a covering of ocher-dyed skin and place on a beam. ¹³And they shall clear the ashes from the altar and spread over it a purple garment. ¹⁴And they shall place on it all its vessels with which they serve upon it, the fire-pans and the flesh-hooks and the scrapers and the basins, all the vessels of the altar, and they shall spread over it a covering of ocher-dyed skin and put in its poles. ¹⁵And Aaron, and his sons, shall finish covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary when the camp journeys onward, and afterward the Kohathites shall come to carry, so that they do not touch the holy and die. These make up the carriage of the Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁶And what is appointed for Eleazar son of Aaron the priest—the oil for the lamp and the aromatic incense and the perpetual grain offering and the anointing oil, what is appointed for all the Tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its vessels.”

¹⁷And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸“Do not let the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be cut off from the midst of the Levites. ¹⁹And this shall you do for them, that they live and not die when they draw near the holy of holies: Aaron and his sons shall come and set every man of them at his work and at his carriage. ²⁰And they shall not come in to see the sanctuary for even a moment and die.”

²¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²²“Count the heads of the Gershonites, too, by their fathers’ houses, by their clans. ²³From thirty years old up till fifty years old you shall reckon them, all who do army service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting. ²⁴This is the work of the Gershonite clans, for work and for carriage: ²⁵They shall carry the curtains of the Tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting, its covering and the covering of ocher-dyed skin that is over it above and the screen of the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ²⁶And the panels of the court and the screen for the entrance to the gate of the court which is all around the Tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, and all the vessels for their service and all that is done for them, and they shall do the work. ²⁷By the word of Aaron and his sons shall be all the work of the Gershonites, for all their carriage and for all their work, and you shall oversee them watchfully in all their carriage. ²⁸This is the work of the Gershonite clans in the Tent of Meeting, and their watch is in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. ²⁹The Merarites by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, you shall reckon them. ³⁰From thirty years old up till fifty years old you shall reckon them, all who come to the army to do the work of the Tent of Meeting. ³¹And this is the watch of their carriage for all their work in the Tent of Meeting: the boards of the Tabernacle and its bars and its posts and its sockets, ³²and the posts of the court all around and their sockets and their pegs and their cords, for all their vessels and for all their work. And by name you shall reckon the vessels of their carriage watch. ³³This is the work of the Merarites for all their work in the Tent of Meeting, in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴And Moses, and Aaron and the chieftains of the community with him, reckoned the Kohathites by their clans by their fathers’ houses, ³⁵from thirty years old up till fifty years old, all who came to the army, to the work in the Tent of Meeting. ³⁶And their reckoning by their clans was two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷This is the reckoning of the Kohathite clans, all who worked in the Tent of Meeting, which Moses, and Aaron with him, reckoned, by the LORD’s word, through the hand of Moses. ³⁸And the reckoning of the Gershonites by their clans and by their fathers’ houses, ³⁹from thirty years old up till fifty years, all who came to the army, to the work in the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁰And their reckoning by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, came to two thousand six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹This is the reckoning of the Gershonites, all who worked in the Tent of Meeting, which Moses, and Aaron with him, reckoned by the LORD’s word. ⁴²And the reckoning of the Merarite clans, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, ⁴³from thirty years old up till fifty years old, all who came to the army, to the work in the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁴And their reckoning by their clans came to three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵This is the reckoning of the Merarite clans that Moses, and Aaron with him, reckoned by the LORD’s word, through the hand of Moses. ⁴⁶All the reckoning by which Moses, and Aaron and the chieftains of Israel with him, reckoned the Levites by their clans and by their fathers’ houses, ⁴⁷from thirty years old up till fifty years old, all who came to do the work and the work of carriage in the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁸And their reckoning came to eight thousand five hundred and eighty. ⁴⁹By the LORD’s word did he reckon them through the hand of Moses, every man according to his work and according to his carriage, and his reckoning was as the LORD had charged Moses.