¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron and said, ²“Hold a census of the sons of Kohath among the sons of Levi according to their families, according to their paternal house, ³of those from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old – everyone who could serve in the army – to do work in the tent of contact. ⁴This is the work of the sons of Kohath in the tent of contact: to do work concerning the holy of holies. ⁵And Aaron and his sons will come when the camp is moved, and they will take down the screening veil, and they will cover the ark of the testimony with it. ⁶And they will put on it a covering of badgers' skins, and they will spread out a cloth made entirely from blue material on top of it, and they will put its poles in position. ⁷And on the display table they will spread out a cloth of blue material, and they will put on it the dishes and spoons and vials and bowls for libations, and there will be the perpetual bread on it. ⁸And they will spread out over them a cloth of scarlet material, and then cover it with a cover of badgers' skins, and they will put its poles in position. ⁹And they will take a cloth of blue material, and they will cover the lampstand for illumination, and its lamps and its snuffing-tongs and its snuff-dishes, and all the equipment for its oil with which they serve it. ¹⁰And they shall put it and all its equipment in a covering of badgers' skins, and they will put that on a pole. ¹¹And they will spread out a cloth of blue material on the golden altar, and they will cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and they will put its poles in position. ¹²And they will take all the equipment for the service with which they officiate in the holy place, and they will put it in a cloth of blue material, and they will cover it in a covering of badgers' skins, and they will put it on a pole. ¹³And they will remove the ash from the altar and then spread a cloth of purple material on it. ¹⁴And they will put on it all the equipment with which they officiate for it – the firepans, the forks, the shovels, the basins – all the equipment of the altar – and they will spread out a covering of badgers' skins over it and put its poles in position. ¹⁵And Aaron and his sons will finish covering the holy things and all the equipment of the holy place when the camp is moved. And after that the sons of Kohath will come to carry it. Then they will not touch the holy things, otherwise they will die. These charges are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of contact. ¹⁶And the duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil of the light and the aromatic incense, and the perpetual meal-offering, and the anointing oil, the oversight of the whole tabernacle and everything in it – of the holy place and of its equipment.” ¹⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron and said, ¹⁸“Do not cut off the tribe of the families of Kohath from among the Levites. ¹⁹But do this for them so that they live and do not die, when they approach the holy of holies: Aaron and his sons will enter, then you are to appoint each individually concerning his work and his burden. ²⁰But they will not enter to look when the holy place is wrapped up, whereby they would die.” ²¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ²²“Hold a census of the sons of Gershon – them too – according to their paternal house, according to their families. ²³You will count them from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old – everyone who could serve in the army – to perform service in the tent of contact. ²⁴This is the work of the Gershonite families, for them to perform, and as a burden: ²⁵that they will carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of contact, its covering and the covering of badgers' skins which is on top of it, and the screen at the entrance to the tent of contact, ²⁶and the drapes of the courtyard, and the screen at the entrance of the gate of the courtyard which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their guylines, and all the equipment for their service, and everything that is made for them, so they can perform it. ²⁷All the work of the sons of the Gershonites will be according to the instructions of Aaron and his sons. It will be according to all their burdens and according to all their service, and you will oversee them in the discharging of all their burdens. ²⁸This is the work of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of contact, and their duty under the control of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ²⁹As for the sons of Merari, you will count them according to their families, according to their paternal house. ³⁰You will count them from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old – all who could serve in the army – to perform the service of the tent of contact. ³¹And this is the duty of their burden, to see to all their service in the tent of contact, the boards of the tabernacle and its bolts and its columns and its sockets, ³²and the columns of the courtyard round about, and their sockets, and their pegs, and their guylines – to see to all their equipment, and to see to all their serviceability. And you will count by name the items of equipment for doing the duty of their burden. ³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their work in the tent of contact under the control of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.” ³⁴And Moses and Aaron and the leading men of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites according to their families and according to their paternal house, ³⁵from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old – everyone who could serve in the army – for service in the tent of contact. ³⁶And those of them counted according to their families came to two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷These are those who were counted from the families of the Kohathites – everyone who served in the tent of contact – whom Moses and Aaron counted, according to the instruction of the Lord, through the intermediacy of Moses. ³⁸And as for those of the sons of Gershon who were counted, according to their families and according to their paternal house, ³⁹from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old – everyone who could serve in the army – for service in the tent of contact, ⁴⁰those of them counted according to their families, according to their paternal house – came to two thousand six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹These are those counted from the families of the sons of Gershon – everyone who serves in the tent of contact – whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the instruction of the Lord. ⁴²And as for those counted from the families of the sons of Merari according to their families, according to their paternal house, ⁴³from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old – everyone who could serve in the army – for service in the tent of contact – ⁴⁴those of them counted according to their families came to three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵These are those counted from the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted, according to the instruction of the Lord through the intermediacy of Moses. ⁴⁶All those counted, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted – the Levites according to their families, according to their paternal house, ⁴⁷from thirty years old and above up to fifty years old, everyone who could go to perform the service of the work, and the work of the burden in the tent of contact – ⁴⁸those of them counted came to eight thousand five hundred and eighty. ⁴⁹He counted them according to the instruction of the Lord, through the intermediacy of Moses, each man according to his service and according to his burden. And those counted by him were those whom the Lord commanded Moses.