Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites departed from the land of Egypt. He said:

You and Aaron are to number all in Israel who can serve in the army, those who are twenty years old or older, by their divisions.

And to help you there is to be a man from each tribe, each man the head of his family.

Now these are the names of the men who are to help you: from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;

and they assembled the entire community together on the first day of the second month. Then the people recorded their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men who were twenty years old or older were listed by name individually,

And they were as follows: The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

From the descendants of Simeon: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males numbered of them twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

From the descendants of Gad: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Judah: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Issachar: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Zebulun: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the sons of Joseph: From the descendants of Ephraim: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Manasseh: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Benjamin: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Dan: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Asher: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

From the descendants of Naphtali: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name.

All the Israelites who were twenty years old or older, who could serve in Israel's army, were numbered according to their families.

But the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers, were not numbered among them.

The Lord had said to Moses,

But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, over all its furnishings and over everything in it. They must carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they must attend to it and camp around it.

Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites must take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be reassembled, the Levites must set it up. Any unauthorized person who approaches it must be killed.

"The Israelites will camp according to their divisions, each man in his camp, and each man by his standard.

The Israelites did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses -- that is what they did.

The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron:

Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Issachar. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar.

All those numbered of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, are 186,400. They will travel at the front.

Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Simeon. The leader of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

All those numbered of the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, are 151,450. They will travel second.

Next to them will be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

All those numbered of the camp of Ephraim, according to their divisions, are 108,100. They will travel third.

Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Asher. The leader of the people of Asher is Pagiel son of Ocran.

These are the Israelites, numbered according to their families. All those numbered in the camps, by their divisions, are 603,550.

So the Israelites did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they camped under their standards, and that is the way they traveled, each with his clan and family.

These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he consecrated to minister as priests.

The Lord spoke to Moses:

They are responsible for his needs and the needs of the whole community before the tent of meeting, by attending to the service of the tabernacle.

You are to assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they will be assigned exclusively to him out of all the Israelites.

So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; but the unauthorized person who comes near must be put to death."

Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

"Look, I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

because all the firstborn are mine. When I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They belong to me. I am the Lord."

Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai:

"Number the Levites by their clans and their families; every male from a month old and upward you are to number."

So Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, just as he had been commanded.

The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle toward the west.

the hangings of the courtyard, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard that surrounded the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes, plus all the service connected with these things.

The families of the Kohathites were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

Now the leader of the clan of the families of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail. These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

But those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle on the east, in front of the tent of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons. They were responsible for the needs of the sanctuary and for the needs of the Israelites, but the unauthorized person who approached was to be put to death.

All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the word of the Lord, according to their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

collect five shekels for each one individually; you are to collect this amount in the currency of the sanctuary shekel (this shekel is twenty gerahs).

And give the money for the redemption of the excess number of them to Aaron and his sons."

From the firstborn males of the Israelites he collected the money, 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.

Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company to do the work in the tent of meeting.

This is the service of the Kohathites in the tent of meeting, relating to the most holy things.

When it is time for the camp to journey, Aaron and his sons must come and take down the screening curtain and cover the ark of the testimony with it.

"When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then the Kohathites will come to carry them; but they must not touch any holy thing, or they will die. These are the responsibilities of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

"Do not allow the tribe of the families of the Kohathites to be cut off from among the Levites;

but in order that they will live and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint each man to his service and his responsibility.

But the Kohathites are not to go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, or they will die."

Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

You must number them from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company to do the work of the tent of meeting.

the hangings for the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the gate of the court, which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes, along with all the furnishings for their service and everything that is made for them. So they are to serve.

"As for the sons of Merari, you are to number them by their families and by their clans.

You must number them from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company to do the work of the tent of meeting.

This is what they are responsible to carry as their entire service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, its posts, its sockets,

and the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their sockets, tent pegs, and ropes, along with all their furnishings and everything for their service. You are to assign by names the items that each man is responsible to carry.

from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered the company for the work in the tent of meeting;

These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered the company for the work in the tent of meeting --

These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered the company for the work in the tent of meeting --

These are those numbered from the families of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered to do the work of service and the work of carrying relating to the tent of meeting --

According to the word of the Lord they were numbered, by the authority of Moses, each according to his service and according to what he was to carry. Thus were they numbered by him, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

"Command the Israelites to expel from the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.

So the Israelites did so, and expelled them outside the camp. As the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

then he must confess his sin that he has committed and must make full reparation, add one fifth to it, and give it to whomever he wronged.

But if the individual has no close relative to whom reparation can be made for the wrong, the reparation for the wrong must be paid to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement by which atonement is made for him.

Every offering of all the Israelites' holy things that they bring to the priest will be his.

The Lord spoke to Moses:

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'If any man's wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him,

then the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion, a grain offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.

Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, "If no other man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband's authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.

Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse and will say to the her, "The Lord make you an attested curse among your people, if the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell;

He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness.

The priest will take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman's hand, wave the grain offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar.

When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness -- her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she will be free of ill effects and will be able to bear children.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

"Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, 'When either a man or a woman takes a special vow, to take a vow as a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord,

All the days of his separation he must not eat anything that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.