The Cost of the Tabernacle

^21 [a]This is the number of the things for the ^[b]tabernacle, the ^[c]tabernacle of the testimony, as they were ^[d]numbered according to the ^[e]command of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

⁶ “^(A)Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. ⁷ They shall perform the duties for ^[a]him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the ^(B)service of the tabernacle. ⁸ They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

Duties of the Priests

²⁵ Now ^(A)the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and ^(B)the tent, its covering, and ^(C)the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(D)the hangings of the court, and ^(E)the screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service ^[a]concerning them.

²⁷ Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites and the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸ In the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, performing the duties of the sanctuary. ²⁹ The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the southward side of the tabernacle, ³⁰ and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families was ^[b]Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹ Now ^(F)their duties involved ^(G)the ark, ^(H)the table, ^(I)the lampstand, ^(J)the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service ^[c]concerning them; ³² and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chief of the leaders of Levi, and had the oversight of those who perform the duties of the sanctuary.

³³ Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴ Their numbered men in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, were 6,200. ³⁵ The leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ^(K)camp on the northward side of the tabernacle. ³⁶ Now the appointed duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its equipment, and the service concerning them, ³⁷ and the pillars around the court with their sockets and their pegs and their cords.

¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(A)and die. These are the ^[a]things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

²⁵ they shall carry ^(A)the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^(B)the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(C)the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, ^[a]they shall perform. ²⁷ All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their work, shall be performed at the ^[b]command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads.

³¹ Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its ^[a]sockets, ³² and the pillars around the court and their ^[b]sockets and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items ^[c]he is to carry.