Levites in Place of the Firstborn. ⁵ Now the Lord said to Moses: ⁶ Summon the tribe of Levi and station them before Aaron the priest to serve him.^{(A) 7} They shall discharge his obligations and those of the whole community before the tent of meeting^(B) by maintaining the tabernacle. ⁸ They shall have responsibility for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and discharge the obligations of the Israelites by maintaining the tabernacle. ⁹ You shall assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons;^(C) they have been assigned unconditionally to him from among the Israelites. ¹⁰ But you will appoint only Aaron and his descendants to exercise the priesthood.^(D) Any unauthorized person who comes near shall be put to death.

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses: ¹² I hereby take the Levites from the Israelites in place of every firstborn that opens the womb among the Israelites.^(E) The Levites, therefore, are mine, ¹³ because every firstborn is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to me every firstborn in Israel, human being and beast alike. They belong to me; I am the Lord.

Census of the Levites. ¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai: ¹⁵ Enroll the Levites by their ancestral houses and clans, enrolling every male of a month or more.^{(F) 16} Moses, therefore, enrolled them at the direction of the Lord, just as the Lord had charged.

^17 (G)These were the sons of Levi by name: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. ¹⁸ These were the names of the sons of Gershon, by their clans: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹ The sons of Kohath, by their clans, were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. ²⁰ The sons of Merari, by their clans, were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of the Levites by their ancestral houses.

Duties of the Levitical Clans. ²¹ To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these were the clans of the Gershonites. ²² Their enrollment, registering every male of a month or more, was seven thousand five hundred. ²³ The clans of the Gershonites camped behind the tabernacle, to the west. ²⁴ The leader of the ancestral house of the Gershonites was Eliasaph, son of Lael. ^25 (H)At the tent of meeting their responsibility was the tabernacle:^[a] the tent and its covering, the curtain at the entrance of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ the hangings of the court, the curtain at the entrance of the court enclosing both the tabernacle and the altar, and the ropes—whatever pertained to their maintenance.

²⁷ To Kohath belonged the clans of the Amramites, the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites; these were the clans of the Kohathites. ²⁸ Their enrollment, registering every male of a month or more, was eight thousand three hundred. They were the ones who performed the duties of the sanctuary. ²⁹ The clans of the Kohathites camped on the south side of the tabernacle. ³⁰ And the leader of their ancestral house of the clan of the Kohathites was Elizaphan, son of Uzziel. ³¹ Their responsibility was the ark, the table, the menorah, the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which the priests minister, the veil, and everything pertaining to their maintenance.^{[b] 32} The chief of the leaders of the Levites, however, was Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest; he was in charge of those who performed the duties of the sanctuary.

³³ To Merari belonged the clans of the Mahlites and the Mushites; these were the clans of Merari. ³⁴ Their enrollment, registering every male of a month or more, was six thousand two hundred. ³⁵ The leader of the ancestral house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel, son of Abihail. They camped at the north side of the tabernacle. ^36 [c]The Merarites were assigned responsibility for the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, columns, pedestals, and all its fittings—and everything pertaining to their maintenance, ³⁷ as well as the columns of the surrounding court with their pedestals, pegs and ropes.

¹² To these divisions of the gatekeepers, by their chief men, were assigned watches for them to minister in the house of the Lord, for each group in the same way. ¹³ They cast lots for each gate, small and large families alike. ¹⁴ When the lot was cast for the east side, it fell to Meshelemiah. Then they cast lots for his son Zechariah, a prudent counselor, and the north side fell to his lot.^{(A) 15} To Obed-edom fell the south side, and to his sons the storehouse. ¹⁶ To Hosah fell the west side with the Shallecheth gate at the ascending highway. For each family, watches were established. ¹⁷ On the east, six watched each day, on the north, four each day, on the south, four each day, and at the storehouse they were two and two; ¹⁸ as for the large building^[a] on the west, there were four at the highway and two at the large building. ¹⁹ These were the classes of the gatekeepers, sons of Korah and Merari.