¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

²Take a head-count of the children of Kohath from the midst of the children of Levi, by their families, by the house of their fathers,

³from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the service to do work in the tent of meeting.

⁴This is the service of the children of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things.

⁵And Aaron and his sons will go in when the camp sets out, and they will take down the curtain of the screen, and they will cover the ark of the testimony with it.

⁶and they will put over it a covering of dolphin skin, and spread out a garment wholly of cerulean over the top, and put in its poles.

⁷And over the table of the faces they will spread out a garment of cerulean, and put on it the dishes, and the palms, and the bowls, and the flagons of the drink offering; and the continual bread will be on it.

⁸And they will spread out over them a garment of worm-scarlet, and cover it with a covering of dolphin skin, and put in its poles.

⁹And they will take a garment of cerulean and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its trays, and all the vessels of its oil, with which they serve it.

¹⁰and they will put it and all its vessels into a covering of dolphin skin, and put it on the carrying bar.

¹¹And over the altar of gold they will spread out a garment of cerulean, and cover it with a covering of dolphin skin, and put in its poles.

¹²And they will take all the vessels of the service with which they serve in the holy place, and put them into a garment of cerulean, and cover them with a covering of dolphin skin, and put them on the carrying bar.

¹³And they will clear the ashes from the altar and spread out a garment of purple over it,

¹⁴and they will put on it all its vessels with which they serve at it: the trays, the forks, and the shovels, and the bowls, all the vessels of the altar; and they will spread out over it a covering of dolphin skin, and put in its poles.

¹⁵And Aaron and his sons will finish covering the holy things and all the vessels of the holy things when the camp sets out; and after that the children of Kohath will come to carry them, and they will not touch the holy thing, lest they die. These are the burden of the children of Kohath in the tent of meeting.

¹⁶And the oversight of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light, the incense of the spices, the continual grain offering, and the anointing oil: the oversight of the whole dwelling place and all that is in it, in the sacred place and in its utensils.

¹⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

¹⁸Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from the midst of the Levites.

¹⁹Do this for them, so that they live and do not die when they draw near the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and set them, each man to his service and to his load.

²⁰But they shall not go in to see the holy thing, not for the time of a swallow, or they will die.

²¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

²²Take up the head count of the sons of Gershon, they also, by their fathers' house, by their clans.

²³From thirty years old and upward, up to fifty years old, you shall muster them, everyone who comes to serve in the host, to carry out the service in the tent of meeting.

²⁴This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites, to serve and to carry:

²⁵They shall carry the curtains of the dwelling, the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of the furred-animal hide that is over it from above, and the screen of the entrance of the tent of meeting,

²⁶the hangings of the court, the screen of the entrance of the gate of the court that is around the dwelling and around the altar all round, their cords, and all the utensils of their service, and all that is done for them; and they shall serve.

²⁷At the mouth of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, for all their load and for all their service; and you shall entrust to them, as their charge, all their load.

²⁸This is the service of the clans of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting; and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹The sons of Merari, by their clans, by their fathers' house, you shall muster them.

³⁰From thirty years old and upward, and up to fifty years old, you shall muster them, everyone who comes to the host, to carry out the service of the tent of meeting.

³¹And this is the charge of their load for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the dwelling, its bars, its pillars, and its bases,

³²and the pillars of the court all round, with their bases, their pegs, and their cords, for all their utensils and for all their service; and by names you shall entrust the utensils of the charge of their load.

³³This is the service of the clans of the sons of Merari, for all their service in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

³⁴Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the assembly mustered the sons of the Kohathites by their clans and by their fathers' house,

³⁵from thirty years old and upward, and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the host for service in the tent of meeting.

³⁶And their mustered men, by their clans, were two thousand seven hundred and fifty.

³⁷These were the mustered men of the clans of the Kohathites, everyone serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the mouth of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

³⁸As for the mustered men of the sons of Gershon, by their clans and by their fathers' house,

³⁹from thirty years old and upward, and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the host for service in the tent of meeting,

⁴⁰and their mustered men, by their clans, by their fathers' house, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty.

⁴¹These were the mustered men of the clans of the sons of Gershon, everyone serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the mouth of Yahweh.

⁴²As for the mustered men of the clans of the sons of Merari, by their clans, by their fathers' house,

⁴³from thirty years old and upward, and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to the host for service in the tent of meeting,

⁴⁴and their mustered men, by their clans, were three thousand and two hundred.

⁴⁵These were the mustered men of the clans of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the mouth of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶All the mustered men whom Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel mustered, the Levites, by their clans and by their fathers' house,

⁴⁷from thirty years old and upward, and up to fifty years old, everyone who comes to serve in the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting,

⁴⁸and their mustered men were eight thousand and five hundred and eighty.

⁴⁹At the mouth of Yahweh they were mustered by the hand of Moses, each man for his service and for his load; and his mustered men were as Yahweh had commanded Moses.