“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. And the Levites will be mine. I am the Lord.

Then you are to bring the Levites before the Lord, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on the Levites;

And so you are to separate the Levites from among the Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

But the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers, were not numbered among them.

Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites must take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be reassembled, the Levites must set it up. Any unauthorized person who approaches it must be killed.

But the Levites must camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that the Lord’s anger will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the testimony.”

“Look, I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

When the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offer the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

“Instruct the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns.

These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

“Do not allow the tribe of the families of the Kohathites to be cut off from among the Levites;

“Take the Levites from among the Israelites and purify them.

So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites.

But the Levites were not numbered among the other Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.

“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.

You are to assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they will be assigned exclusively to him out of all the Israelites.

The sons of Merari by their families were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their clans.

Now the head of all the Levitical leaders was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the sanctuary.

And for the redemption of the 273 firstborn males of the Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites,

So Moses took the redemption money from those who were in excess of those redeemed by the Levites.