Nadab and Abihu had died before the LORD when they offered profane fire before the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.
"Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle.
"Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine,
"because all the firstborn [are] Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I [am] the LORD."
Those who were numbered, according to the number of all the males from a month old and above -- of those who were numbered [there were] seven thousand five hundred.
The duties of the children of Gershon in the tabernacle of meeting [included] the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting,
the screen for the door of the court, the hangings of the court which [are] around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, according to all the work relating to them.
From Kohath [came] the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these [were] the families of the Kohathites.
Their duty [included] the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which they ministered, the screen, and all the work relating to them.
And the appointed duty of the children of Merari [included] the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, its utensils, all the work relating to them,
Moreover those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tabernacle of meeting, [were] Moses, Aaron, and his sons, keeping charge of the sanctuary, to meet the needs of the children of Israel; but the outsider who came near was to be put to death.
All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, by their families, all the males from a month old and above, [were] twenty-two thousand.
"And you shall take the Levites for Me -- I [am] the LORD -- instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel."
And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.
"Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites shall be Mine: I [am] the LORD.
"you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take [them] in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs.
From the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five [shekels,] according to the shekel of the sanctuary.