Numbers 4:1-20

New American Standard Bible 1995

Duties of the Kohathites

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “Take ^[a]a census of the ^[b]descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, ³ from ^(A)thirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴ This is the work of the ^[c]descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵ “When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down ^(B)the veil of the screen and cover the ^(C)ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ and they shall lay a ^(D)covering of porpoise skin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth of pure ^[d]blue, and shall insert its poles. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of ^[e]blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the sacrificial bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and ^(E)the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸ They shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles. ⁹ Then they shall take a ^[f]blue cloth and cover the ^(F)lampstand for the light, ^(G)along with its lamps and its snuffers, and its ^[g]trays and all its oil vessels, by which they serve it; ¹⁰ and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put it on the carrying bars. ¹¹ Over the golden altar they shall spread a ^[h]blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin, and shall insert its poles; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a ^[i]blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin, and put them on the carrying bars. ¹³ Then they shall take away the ^[j]ashes from the ^(H)altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴ They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they serve in connection with it: the firepans, the forks and shovels and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its poles. ¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(I)and die. These are the ^[k]things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “The responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(J)the oil for the light and the ^(K)fragrant incense and ^(L)the continual grain offering and ^(M)the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the ^[l]tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸ “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. ¹⁹ But do this to them that they may live and ^(N)not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load; ²⁰ but ^(O)they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”