Numbers 4 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
"Take a count of the descendants of from among the by their family groups and their ancestral households,
from thirty years old up to fifty years old — everyone who enters the workforce to do the work in the
"This is the work of the Kohathites in the meeting tent — the most items:
When the camp is ready to move, Aaron and his sons will go in and take down the and cover the of the with it.
They will put a covering of over it, then spread a cloth of solid blue over that, and insert its carrying poles.
Over the table of the of the they will spread a blue cloth, and put on it the plates, the ladles, the bowls, and the pitchers for the The regular will stay on it.
Then they will spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover that with fine leather, and insert the carrying poles.
They will take a blue cloth and cover the for light, along with its lamps, its wick trimmers, its trays, and all the oil containers used to tend it.
They will wrap it and all its equipment in fine leather and put it on a carrying frame.
Over the they will spread a blue cloth, cover it with fine leather, and insert its carrying poles.
They will take all the service equipment used in the wrap them in a blue cloth, cover them with fine leather, and put them on a carrying frame.
They will clear the ashes from the and spread a purple cloth over it.
They will put on it all the equipment used for service there — the firepans, the meat forks, the shovels, and the sprinkling bowls — all the altar equipment. Then they will spread fine leather over it and insert its carrying poles.
"When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sacred items and all the sacred equipment as the camp gets ready to move, the Kohathites will come to carry them. But they must not touch the sacred items or they will These are the things in the meeting tent that the Kohathites are responsible to carry.
"Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is in charge of the for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular and the He oversees the entire meeting tent and everything sacred in it — all the equipment."
Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
"Don't let the Kohathite family group be from among the Levites.
Do this for them so they survive and don't die when they approach the most sacred items: Aaron and his sons will go in and assign each man his specific task and what he is to carry.
But they must never go in to look at the sacred items, even for a moment, or they will die."
Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
"Take a count of the descendants of as well, by their ancestral households and family groups.
Count everyone from thirty to fifty years old — everyone who enters the workforce to serve in the meeting tent.
This is the work of the Gershonite family groups in serving and carrying:
They will carry the fabric panels of the meeting tent, the meeting tent itself with its covering, the fine leather covering on top of it, the screen for the entrance to the meeting tent,
the hangings of the the screen for the entrance to the gate that surrounds the meeting tent and the altar, their ropes, and all the equipment for their service. They will do everything that needs to be done with these.
All the work of the Gershonites — everything they carry and everything they do — will be directed by Aaron and his sons. You will assign them responsibility for everything they are to carry.
This is the work of the Gershonite family groups at the meeting tent. They will serve under the direction of son of Aaron the priest.
"As for the descendants of count them by their family groups and their ancestral households.
Count everyone from thirty to fifty years old — everyone who enters the workforce to serve at the meeting tent.
This is what they are responsible to carry as their work at the meeting tent: the frames of the meeting tent, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases,
the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, and ropes, along with all their equipment and everything related to their service. Assign by name the specific items each person is responsible to carry.
This is the work of the Merarite family groups for all their service at the meeting tent, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest."
So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the community counted the Kohathites by their family groups and ancestral households,
from thirty to fifty years old — everyone who entered the workforce to serve at the meeting tent.
The count by family groups was 2,750.
This was the total count of the Kohathite family groups — everyone who served at the meeting tent — whom Moses and Aaron counted as Yahweh had commanded through Moses.
The descendants of Gershon were counted by their family groups and ancestral households,
from thirty to fifty years old — everyone who entered the workforce to serve at the meeting tent.
The count by family groups and ancestral households was 2,630.
This was the total count of the Gershonite family groups — everyone who served at the meeting tent — whom Moses and Aaron counted as Yahweh had commanded.
The descendants of Merari were counted by their family groups and ancestral households,
from thirty to fifty years old — everyone who entered the workforce to serve at the meeting tent.
The count by family groups was 3,200.
This was the total count of the Merarite family groups whom Moses and Aaron counted as Yahweh had commanded through Moses.
So Moses, Aaron, and the of counted all the Levites by their family groups and ancestral households,
from thirty to fifty years old — everyone who entered the workforce to do the work of serving and the work of carrying at the meeting tent.
Their total count was 8,580.
As Yahweh had commanded through Moses, each one was assigned his specific work of serving or carrying. They were counted just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.