Numbers 4:21-49 ▼

21 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

22 “Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ households, by their families;

23 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall count them: all who can enter to perform service, to do the work in the tent of meeting.

24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying:

25 they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of fine leather that is on top of it, and the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting,

26 and the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the gate of the courtyard that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes and all the equipment for their service; and everything that is to be done by them, they shall perform.

27 All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, that is, all their loads and all their work, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads.

28 This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting; and their duties shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

29 “As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families, by their fathers’ households;

30 from thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, you shall count them, everyone who can enter the service to do the work of the tent of meeting.

31 Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, and its bases,

32 and the pillars around the courtyard and their bases, their pegs, and their ropes, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign by names of the men the items that each is to carry.

33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

34 So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households,

35 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting.

36 Their numbered men by their families were 2,750.

37 These were the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

38 And the numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households,

39 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting—

40 their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630.

41 These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD.

42 And the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households,

43 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting—

44 their numbered men by their families were 3,200.

45 These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

46 All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ households,

47 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting—

48 their numbered men were 8,580.

49 According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses, they were counted, everyone by his serving or carrying; so these were his numbered men, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.