1And YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2“Add up the heads of the children of Kohath from among the children of Levi by their families, by their fathers’ house,
3from thirty years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who would come to the army to do work in the Tent of Meeting.
4This is the work of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting: the Holy of Holies.
5“And Aaron and his sons shall come when the camp is to travel, and they shall take down the covering pavilion and cover the ark of the testimony with it.
6And they shall put a cover of leather and shall spread a fabric all of blue above it and put in its poles.
7And on the table of show bread they shall spread a blue fabric, and they shall put on it the dishes and the pans and the bowls and the libation jars; and the continual bread shall be on it.
8And they shall spread a scarlet fabric over them and cover it with a leather covering and set its poles.
9And they shall take a blue fabric and cover the menorah for lighting and its lamps and its tongs and its fire-holders and all its equipment for oil with which they will minister for it.
10And they shall put it and all its equipment into a leather covering and put it on a beam.
11And on the gold altar they shall spread a blue fabric, and they shall cover it with a leather covering and set its poles.
12And they shall take all the equipment for ministering with which they minister in the Holy and put them into a blue fabric and cover them with a leather covering and put them on a beam.
13And they shall clear the ashes from the altar and spread a purple fabric over it.
14And they shall put on it all its equipment with which they minister at it—the fire-holders, the forks and the shovels and the basins—all the altar’s equipment, and they shall spread a leather covering on it and set its poles.
15And Aaron and his sons will finish covering the Holy and all the equipment of the Holy when the camp is to travel, and after that the children of Kohath shall come to carry, so they shall not touch the holy and die. These are what the children of Kohath are to carry in the Tent of Meeting.
4:15. so they shall not touch the holy and die. This is followed by: “they shall not come to see as the Holy is covered up and die” (4:20). Thus, twice more the text reminds us that closeness to the divine is dangerous. The death of Aaron’s sons stands in the background of these warnings. (In fact, it is mentioned in the preceding chapter; 3:4.) And these warnings also remind us of the distinction between the ritual and moral realms. Whatever their intentions, whatever their moral condition, if these Kohathites touch what they are not supposed to touch or see what they are not supposed to see, they will die.
16“And the responsibility of Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, is the oil for lighting and the incense of fragrances and the continual grain offering and the anointing oil—the responsibility for all of the Tabernacle and everything that is in it, in the Holy and in its equipment.”
17And YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
18“You shall not cut off the tribe of the Kohathite families from among the Levites,
19but do this to them so they will live and not die when they come close to the Holy of Holies: Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall set them each at his work and to what he is to carry,
20and they shall not come to see as the Holy is covered up and die.”
21And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
22“Add up the heads of the children of Gershon, them as well, by their fathers’ house, by their families.
23You shall count them from thirty years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who would come to do army service, to do work in the Tent of Meeting.
24This is the work of the Gershonite families, for work and for carrying:
25And they shall carry the curtains of the Tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, and the leather covering that is on it above, and the cover of the entrance of the Tent of Meeting
26and the courtyard’s hangings and the cover for the entrance of the gate of the courtyard that is all around the Tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service. And everything that will be done for them: they shall do the work.
27All the work of the children of the Gershonites shall be by the word of Aaron and his sons, for all their carrying and all their work. And you shall supervise them in the task: all their carrying.
28This is the work of the families of the children of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting. And their charge is in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.
29“The children of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ house: you shall count them.
30You shall count them from thirty years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who would come to the army, to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.
31And this is their carrying task, for all their work in the Tent of Meeting: the Tabernacle’s frames and its bars and its columns and its bases
32and the courtyard’s columns all around and their bases and their pegs and their cords, for all their equipment and all their service. And you shall take account of the equipment for their carrying task by name.
33This is the work of the families of the children of Merari, for all their work in the Tent of Meeting in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.”
34And Moses and Aaron and the congregation’s chieftains counted the Kohathite children by their families and by their fathers’ house
35from thirty years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who would come to the army for the work of the Tent of Meeting.
36And their counts by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty.
37These are the counts of the Kohathite families, everyone who worked in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted by YHWH’s word through Moses’ hand.
38And the counts of the children of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ house
39from thirty years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who would come to the army for work in the Tent of Meeting:
40And their counts by their families, by their fathers’ house, were two thousand six hundred thirty.
41These are the counts of the families of the children of Gershon, everyone who worked in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted by YHWH’s word.
42And the counts of the families of the children of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ house
43from thirty years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who would come to the army for work in the Tent of Meeting:
44And their counts by their families were three thousand two hundred.
45These are the counts of the families of the children of Merari whom Moses and Aaron counted by YHWH’s word through Moses’ hand.
46All the counts that Moses and Aaron and Israel’s chieftains made of the Levites by their families and by their fathers’ house
47from thirty years old and up to fifty years old, everyone who was coming to do the service of work and the service of carrying in the Tent of Meeting:
48And their counts were eight thousand five hundred eighty.
49By YHWH’s word he counted them by Moses’ hand, each man by his work or by his carrying, and his counts were as YHWH commanded Moses.
