¹ Now the Lord ²  spoke ³  to Moses in the tent of meeting ⁴  in the wilderness ⁵  of Sinai ⁶  on the first day of the second month of the second year after ⁷  the Israelites ⁸  departed from the land of Egypt. ⁹  He said:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take ¹  the number of their names.

“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.

These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

These are those numbered from the families of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

So the Israelites did so, and expelled them outside the camp. As the Lord had spoken ¹  to Moses, so the Israelites did.

The priest will take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman’s hand, wave the grain offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar.

For the Lord said to Moses, “They must present their offering, one leader for each day, ¹  for the dedication of the altar.”

And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Levites purified themselves ¹  and washed their clothing; then Aaron presented them like a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them.

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out ²  of the land of Egypt:

When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions ¹  of the Lord and did not journey.

If you go to war in your land against an adversary who opposes ¹  you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved ²  from your enemies.

And if you come with us, it is certain ¹  that whatever good things the Lord will favor us with, we will share with you as well.”

¹ Moses heard the people weeping ²  throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. ³ 

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He then gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tabernacle.

The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went.

The Lord ¹  said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, ²  I the Lord ³  will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

With him I will speak face to face, ¹  openly, ²  and not in riddles; and he will see the form ³  of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”