GOD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai at the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had left Egypt. He said,
and gathered the whole congregation together on the first day of the second month. The people registered themselves in their tribes according to their ancestral families, putting down the names of those who were twenty years old and older,
The line of Reuben, Israel's firstborn: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by tribes according to their ancestral families.
The line of Simeon: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Gad: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Judah: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Issachar: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Zebulun: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Joseph: From son Ephraim the men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
And from son Manasseh the men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Benjamin: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Dan: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Asher: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
The line of Naphtali: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families.
These are the numbers of those registered by Moses and Aaron, registered with the help of the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his ancestral family.
"The tribe of Levi is an exception: Don't register them. Don't count the tribe of Levi; don't include them in the general census of the People of Israel.
Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of The Dwelling of The Testimony--over all its furnishings and everything connected with it. Their job is to carry The Dwelling and all its furnishings, maintain it, and camp around it.
When it's time to move The Dwelling, the Levites will take it down, and when it's time to set it up, the Levites will do it. Anyone else who even goes near it will be put to death.
But the Levites will set up camp around The Dwelling of The Testimony so that wrath will not fall on the community of Israel. The Levites are responsible for the security of The Dwelling of The Testimony."