Numbers 7:1-9 ▼

1 Now on the day that Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it with all its furnishings and the altar and all its utensils; he anointed them and consecrated them also.

2 Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their fathers' households, made an offering (they were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who were over the numbered men).

3 When they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered carts and twelve oxen, a cart for [every] two of the leaders and an ox for each one, then they presented them before the tabernacle.

4 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

5 |Accept [these things] from them, that they may be used in the service of the tent of meeting, and you shall give them to the Levites, [to] each man according to his service.|

6 So Moses took the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.

7 Two carts and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service,

8 and four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

9 But he did not give [any] to the sons of Kohath because theirs [was] the service of the holy [objects, which] they carried on the shoulder.