“How long must I bear with this evil congregation that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.

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

These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them.

So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.

But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, over all its furnishings and over everything in it. They must carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they must attend to it and camp around it.

For they are entirely given to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites.