1Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron: 2»Take a census of the Levites who are descended from Kohath. List them by families and households. 3»Register all the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who are qualified to work at the tent of meeting. 4»This is the work the Kohathites will do in the tent of meeting: They will take care of the most holy things. 5»When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons will go in and take down the canopy that hangs over the Ark containing the words of God’s Covenant. First they will cover the Ark with the canopy. 6»Over this they will put a covering of fine leather. On top of that they will spread a cloth made entirely of violet material. Then they will put the poles in place. 7»They will spread a violet cloth over the table of the presence and put on it the plates, dishes, bowls, and pitchers for the wine offerings. The bread that is always in Jehovah’s presence will also be on it. 8»They will spread a bright red cloth over everything on the table. They will then cover all this with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place. 9»They will use a violet cloth to cover the lamp stand, as well as the lamps, snuffers, trays, and all the containers for the olive oil used in the lamps. 10»Then they will put the lamp stand and all its utensils under a covering of fine leather and put them on a frame to carry them. 11»They will spread a violet cloth over the gold altar and cover the cloth with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place. 12»They will take all the articles that are used in the holy place and put them in a violet cloth. Then they will cover that with fine leather, and put them on a frame to carry them. 13»After they take the ashes away, they will spread a purple cloth over the altar. 14»They will put all the accessories used at the altar on it. These are the trays, forks, shovels, and bowls-all the altar’s accessories. They will spread a covering of fine leather sealskin over all this. Then they will put the poles in place. 15»When Aaron and his sons finished covering the holy things and the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites will come to carry all the holy articles. They must never touch the holy things, or they will die. The Kohathites will carry all the things from the tent of meeting. 16»Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of the oil for the lamps, the sweet-smelling incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. He is in charge of the whole tent and everything in it, the holy place and its contents.« 17Jehovah continued to speak to Moses and Aaron: 18»Do not let the Kohathite families from Levi’s tribe be destroyed. 19»This is what you must do so that they will not die when they come near the most holy things: Aaron and his sons will go into the holy place and tell each man what he will do and what he will carry. 20»However the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.« 21Jehovah said to Moses: 22»Take a census of the Gershonites. List them by households and families. 23»Register all the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting. 24»This is what the Gershonite families will do and what they will carry: 25»They will carry the sheets that are part of the inner tent and the tent of meeting. They will also carry the inner cover for the tent of meeting, the outer cover of fine leather that goes over it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting, 26the curtains for the courtyard around the tent and the altar, the screen for the entrance to the courtyard, the ropes, and all the equipment used to set up the curtains. The Gershonites will do everything that needs to be done with these things. 27»All their work, whatever they carry and all their duties, will be done under the direction of Aaron and his sons. You are in charge of telling them everything they are to carry. 28»This is the work of the Gershonite families in the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them. 29»Register the Merarites by families and households. 30»Register all the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting. 31»These are their duties as they work at the tent of meeting: They will carry the framework for the inner tent, the crossbars, posts, and sockets, 32the posts for the surrounding courtyard, the bases, pegs, and ropes. They must take care of all this equipment. Tell each man by name the things he will carry. 33»This is what the Merarite families will do as they work at the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them.« 34Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation registered the Kohathites by their families and households. 35They registered all the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who were qualified to work at the tent of meeting. 36The total of those who were registered was two thousand seven hundred and fifty. They were listed by families. 37This was the total of all those in the Kohathite families who served at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded Moses and registered the Kohathites. 38The Gershonites were registered by families and households. 39All the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered. 40The total of those registered was two thousand six hundred and seventy. They were listed by families and households. 41This was the total of all those in the Gershonite families who worked at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded Moses and registered the Gershonites. 42The Merarites were registered by families and households. 43All the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered. 44The total of all those who were registered was three thousand two hundred. They were listed by families. 45This was the total of those registered in the Merarite families. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded Moses and registered the Merarites. 46All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ households, 47were the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who were qualified to do the work of serving and who carried the tent of meeting. 48They counted eight thousand five hundred and fifty. 49At Jehovah’s command through Moses each man was registered and told what to do and what to carry. So they were registered as Jehovah commanded Moses.