Numbers 3:1-16 ▼

1 Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when Yahweh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

2 These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to minister as priests.

4 But Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

5 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and have them stand before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

7 And they shall keep his responsibility and the responsibility for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to perform the service of the tabernacle.

8 They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the responsibility of the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the tabernacle.

9 You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.

10 So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

11 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

12 “Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first offspring of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.

13 For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am Yahweh.”

14 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

15 “Number the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall number.”

16 So Moses numbered them according to the word of Yahweh, just as he had been commanded.