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3

And these are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day in which the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sina. 2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the first-born; and Abiud, Eleazar and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests whom they 1consecrated to the priesthood. 4 And Nadab and Abiud died before the Lord, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the wilderness of Sina; and they had no children; and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priests' office with Aaron their father.

5And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 Take the tribe of Levi, and thou shalt set them before Aaron the priest, and they shall minister to him, 7 and shall keep his charges, and the charges of the children of Israel, before the tabernacle of witness, to do the works of the tabernacle. 8 And they shall keep all the furniture of the tabernacle of witness, and the charges of the children of Israel as to all the works of the tabernacle. 9 And thou shalt give the Levites to Aaron, and to his sons the priests; they are given for a gift to me of the chldren of Israel. 10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons over the tabernacle of witness; and they shall keep their charge of priesthood, and all things belonging to the altar, and within the veil; and the stranger that touches them shall die. 11 And the Lord

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shall cover with it the ark of the testimony. 6 And they shall put on it a cover, even a blue skin, and put on it above a garment all of blue, and shall put the staves through the rings.

7 And they shall put on the table set forth for shew-bread a cloth all of purple, and the dishes, and the censers, and the cups, and the vessels with which one offers drink-offerings; and the continual loaves shall be upon it. 8 And they shall put upon it a scarlet cloth, and they shall cover it with a blue covering of skin, and they shall put the staves into it. 9 And they shall take a blue covering, and cover the candlestick that gives light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its funnels, and all the vessels of oil with which they minister. 10 And they shall put it, and all its vessels, into a blue skin cover; and they shall put it on bearers. 11 And they shall put a blue cloth for a cover on the golden altar, and shall cover it with a blue skin cover, and put in its staves.

12 And they shall take all the instruments of service, with which they minister in the sanctuary: and shall place them in a cloth of blue, and shall cover them with blue skin covering, and put them upon staves. 13 And he shall put the covering on the altar, and they shall cover it with a cloth all of purple. 14 And they shall put upon it all the vessels with which they minister upon it, and the fire-pans, and the flesh-hooks, and the cups, and the cover, and all the vessels of the altar; and they shall put on it a blue cover of skins, and shall put in its staves; and they shall take a purple cloth, and cover the laver and its foot, and they shall put it into a blue cover of skin, and put it on bars. 15 And Aaron and his sons shall finish covering the holy things, and all the holy vessels, when the camp begins to move; and afterwards the sons of Caath shall go in to take up the furniture; but shall not touch the holy things, lest they die: these shall the sons of Caath bear in the tabernacle of witness.

16 Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is overseer--the oil of the light, and the incense of composition, and the daily meat-offering and the anointing oil, are his charge; even the oversight of the whole tabernacle, and all things that are in it in the holy place, in all the works.

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 18 Ye shall not destroy the family of Caath from the tribe out of the midst of the Levites. 19 This do ye to them, and they shall live and not die, when they approach the holy of holies: Let Aaron and his sons advance, and they shall place them each in his post for bearing. 20 And so they shall by no means go in to look suddenly upon the holy things, and die.

21 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 22 Take the sum of the children of Gedson, and these according to the houses of their lineage, according to their families. 23 Take the number of them from five and twenty years old and upwards until the age of fifty, every one that goes in to minister, to do his

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division of Merari, was Suriel the son of Abichail: they shall encamp by the side of the tabernacle northwards. 36 The oversight of the charge of the sons of Merari included the chapiters of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all their furniture, and their works, 37 and the pillars of the court round about, and their bases, and their pins, and their cords.

38 They that encamp before the tabernacle of witness on the east shall be Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charges of the sanctuary according to the charges of the children of Israel; and the stranger that touches them, shall die. 39 All the numbering 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 upwards, were two and twenty thousand.

40 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Count every first-born male of the children of Israel from a month old and upwards, and take the number by name. 41 And thou shalt take the Levites for me--I am the Lord--instead of all the first-born of the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the first-born among the cattle of the children of Israel. 42 And Moses counted, as the Lord commanded him, every first-born among the children of Israel. 43 And all the male first-born in number by name, from a month old and upwards, were according to their numbering twenty-two thousand and two hundred and seventy-three. 44 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 Take the Levites instead of all the first-born of the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle, and the Levites shall be mine; I am the Lord. 46 And for the ransoms of the two hundred and seventy-three which exceed the Levites in number of the first-born of the sons of Israel; 47 thou shalt even take five shekels a head; thou shalt take them according to the holy didrachm, twenty oboli to the shekel. 48 And thou shalt give the money to Aaron and to his sons, the ransom of those who exceed in number among them. 49 And Moses took the silver, the ransom of those that exceeded in number 2the redemption of the Levites. 50 He took the silver from the first-born of the sons of Israel, a thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, according to the holy shekel. 51 And Moses gave the ransom of them that were over to Aaron and his sons, by the 3word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.


1 Gr. accomplished their hands to minister: according to the Hebrew idiom, filled their hands.

2 i. e. the number redeemed by the Levites.

3 Gr. voice.

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