The Sons of Aaron

(Leviticus 10:1-7)

1These are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai. 2And these the names of the sons of Aaron: his firstborn Nadab, then Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3These the names of the sons of Aaron the priests that were anointed, and whose hands were filled and consecrated, to do the functions of priesthood. 4Now Nadab and Abiu died, without children, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the desert of Sinai: and Eleazar and Ithamar performed the priestly office in the presence of Aaron their father.

Duties of the Levites

5And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6Bring the tribe of Levi, and make them stand in the sight of Aaron the priest to minister to him, and let them watch, 7And observe whatsoever appertaineth to the service of the multitude before the tabernacle of the testimony, 8And let them keep the vessels of the tabernacle, serving in the ministry thereof. 9And thou shalt give the Levites for a gift, 10To Aaron and to his sons, to whom they are delivered by the children of Israel. But thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons over the service of priesthood. The stranger that approacheth to minister, shall be put to death.

11And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying : 12I have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, for every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. 13For every firstborn is mine: since I struck the firstborn in the land of Egypt: I have sanctified to myself whatsoever is firstborn in Israel both of man and beast, they are mine: I am the Lord.

Registration of the Levites

14And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, saying: 15Number the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers and their families, every male from one month and upward. 16Moses numbered them as the Lord had commanded. 17And there were found sons of Levi by their names, Gerson and Caath and Merari. 18The sons of Gerson: Lebni and Semei. 19The sons of Caath: Amram, and Jesaar, Hebron and Oziel: 20The sons of Merari: Moholi and Musi.

The Gershonites

(Numbers 4:21-28; Numbers 4:38-41; 1 Chronicles 23:7-11)

21Of Gerson were two families, the Lebnites, and the Semeites: 22Of which were numbered, people of the male sex from one month and upward, seven thousand five hundred. 23These shall pitch behind the tabernacle on the west, 24Under their prince Eliasaph the son of Lael.

25And their charge shall be in the tabernacle of the covenant: 26The tabernacle itself and the cover thereof, the hanging that is drawn before the doors of the tabernacle of the covenant, and the curtains of the court: the hanging also that is hanged in the entry of the court of the tabernacle, and whatsoever belongeth to the rite of the altar, the cords of the tabernacle, and all the furniture thereof.

The Kohathites

(Numbers 4:1-20; Numbers 4:34-37; 1 Chronicles 23:12-20)

27Of the kindred of Caath come the families of the Amramites and Jesaarites and Hebronites and Ozielites. These are the families of the Caathites reckoned up by their names: 28All of the male sex from one month and upward, eight thousand six hundred: they shall have the guard of the sanctuary, 29And shall camp on the south side. 30And their prince shall be Elisaphan the son of Oziel: 31And they shall keep the ark, and the table and the candlestick, the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary, wherewith they minister, and the veil, and all the furniture of this kind. 32And the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, shall be over them that watch for the guard of the sanctuary.

The Merarites

(Numbers 4:29-33; Numbers 4:42-49; 1 Chronicles 23:21-23)

33And of Merari are the families of the Moholites, and Musites, reckoned up by their names : 34All of the male kind from one month and upward, six thousand two hundred. 35Their prince Suriel the son of Abihaiel: they shall camp on the north side. 36Under their custody shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars, and the pillars and their sockets, and all things that pertain to this kind of service: 37And the pillars of the court round about with their sockets, and the pins with their cords.

Moses and Aaron

38Before the tabernacle of the covenant, that is to say on the east side, shall Moses and Aaron camp, with their sons, having the custody of the sanctuary, in the midst of the children of Israel. What stranger soever cometh unto it, shall be put to death. 39All the Levites, that Moses and Aaron numbered according to the precept of the Lord, by their families, of the male kind from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand.

Firstborn Sons Redeemed

40And the Lord said to Moses: Number the firstborn of the male sex of the children of Israel, from one month and upward, and thou shalt take the sum of them. 41And thou shalt take the Levites to me for all the firstborn of the children of Israel, I am the Lord: and their cattle for all the firstborn of the cattle of the children of Israel: 42Moses reckoned up, as the Lord had commanded, the firstborn of the children of Israel: 43And the males by their names, from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

44And the Lord spoke to Moses, saving: 45Take the Levites for the firstborn of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites for their cattle, and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord. 46But for the price of the two hundred and seventy-three, of the firstborn of the children of Israel, that exceed the number of the Levites, 47Thou shalt take five sides for every head, according to the weight of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols. 48And then shalt give the money to Aaron and his sons, the price of them that are above. 49Moses therefore took the money of them that were above, and whom they had redeemed from the Levites, 50For the firstborn of the children of Israel, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five sicles, according to the weight of the sanctuary, 51And gave it to Aaron and his sons, according to the word that the Lord had commanded him.