¹ And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

² Lift the heads of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' houses,

³ from a son of thirty years and upward, even until fifty years old, all that enter upon the service, to do work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

⁴ This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, the Holy of Holies.

⁵ Aaron and his sons shall come in, when the camp pulls out, and shall take down the veil of the hanging, and shall cover the ark of the testimony with it.

⁶ And he shall put a covering of dugong skins on it, and shall spread a garment entirely of blue on top, and shall put in its staves.

⁷ And they shall spread a blue cloth on the table of the showbread, and shall put its dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the drink offering, and the continual bread on it.

⁸ And they shall spread a cloth of scarlet over them, and shall cover it with a covering of dugong skin, and shall put in its staves.

⁹ And he shall take a blue cloth and shall cover the lampstand of the lamp, and its lights, and its tongs, and its firepans, and all its oil vessels with which they minister to it.

¹⁰ And they shall put it and all its vessels into a covering of dugong skin, and shall put it on the bar.

¹¹ And they shall spread a blue cloth on the golden altar, and shall cover it with a covering of dugong skin, and shall put in its staves.

¹² And they shall take all the vessels of ministry with which they minister in the sanctuary, and shall put them into a blue cloth, and shall cover them with a covering of dugong skin, and shall put them on the bar.

¹³ And that shall remove the ashes of the altar, and shall spread over it a purple cloth;

¹⁴ and shall put on it all its vessels with which they minister around it, the firepans, the hooks, and the shovels, and the bowls, all the vessels of the altar. And they shall spread a covering of dugong skin on it, and shall put in its staves.

¹⁵ And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary, and all the sanctuary vessels as the camp sets forward, then afterwards the sons of Kohath shall come in to carry. And they shall not touch the holy thing, that they may not die. These are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

¹⁶ And the oversight of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil of the lamp, and the sweet incense, and the continual food offering, and the anointing oil. He shall oversee all the tabernacle, and all that is in it, in the sanctuary, and its furniture.

¹⁷ And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

¹⁸ Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites.

¹⁹ But do this to them, and they shall live and not die as they draw near the Holy of Holies. Aaron and his sons shall go in, and shall appoint them each man to his service, and to his burden.

²⁰ And they shall not go in to see when the holy thing is covered, that they may not die.

²¹ And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

²² Lift the heads of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' house, by their families,

²³ from a son of thirty years and upward, you shall number them, until a son of fifty years, all that enter to wait on the service, to serve in the tabernacle of the congregation.

²⁴ This is the duty of the families of the Gershonites in serving and in bearing burdens.

²⁵ They shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, its covering, and the covering of dugong skins that is on its top, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation;

²⁶ and the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court by the tabernacle and by the altar all around, and their cords, and all the vessels of their service, and whatever there may be to do with them; in this they shall serve.

²⁷ At the mouth of Aaron, and of his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, and all their burden, and all their service. And you shall lay a charge on them concerning the duty of all their burden.

²⁸ This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tabernacle of the congregation; and their charge is under the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹ You shall number the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers' house,

³⁰ from a son of thirty years and upward, even to a son of fifty years you shall number them, everyone who is going into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.

³¹ And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation: the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars and its pillars and its sockets,

³² and the pillars of the court all around, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, of all their vessels, and of all their service. And you shall number the vessels of the charge of their burden by name.

³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, for all their service, in the tabernacle of the congregation, by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

³⁴ And Moses and Aaron and the ruler of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers' house,

³⁵ from a son of thirty years and upward, even to a son of fifty years, everyone who is going into the service, for work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

³⁶ Their numbered ones, by their families, were two thousand, seven hundred and fifty.

³⁷ These were those numbered of the families of the Kohathites, everyone who is serving in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the mouth of Jehovah, by the hand of Moses.

³⁸ And those numbered of the sons of Gershon, by their families, and by their fathers' house,

³⁹ from a son of thirty years and upward, even to a son of fifty years, and everyone who is going into the service, for work in the tabernacle of the congregation,

⁴⁰ even those numbered of them, by their families, by their father's house were two thousand, six hundred and thirty.

⁴¹ These were those numbered of the families of Gershon, everyone who is serving in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the mouth of Jehovah.

⁴² And those numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers' house,

⁴³ from a son of thirty years and upward, even to a son of fifty years, everyone who is going into the service, for work in the tabernacle of the congregation,

⁴⁴ even their numbered ones by their families were three thousand and two hundred.

⁴⁵ These were those numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the mouth of Jehovah, by Moses' hand.