Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites;

But do this to them that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each one of them to his service and to his burden;

But the Kohathites shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment; otherwise they will die.

Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Take the sum of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' households, by their families;

From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who enters to carry out the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens:

They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, and the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,

And the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court, which is around the tabernacle and around the altar, and their cords, and all the equipment for their service; and whatever is to be done with them, so shall they do.

All the service of the sons of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all their burden and in all their service; and you shall assign to them the charge of all they are to carry.

This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting, and their charge shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers' households;

From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who enters into the service to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.

And this is the charge of what they are to carry, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its sockets,

And the pillars around the court and their sockets and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign by name the equipment they have been charged to carry.

This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

And Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the assembly numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers' households,

From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting.

And those who were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty.