---
title: Numbers 3
slug: kjv/numbers-3
createdAt: 2024-08-04T03:21:32.555Z
---

**1 **These also *are* the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day *that* the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai. **2 **And these *are* the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. **3 **These *are* the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office. **4 **And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father.

**5 **And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, **6 **Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. **7 **And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. **8 **And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. **9 **And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they *are* wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. **10 **And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

**11 **And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, **12 **And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; **13 **Because all the firstborn *are* mine; *for* on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I *am* the LORD.

**14 **And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, **15 **Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them. **16 **And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded. **17 **And these were the sons of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. **18 **And these *are* the names of the sons of Gershon by their families; Libni, and Shimei. **19 **And the sons of Kohath by their families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. **20 **And the sons of Merari by their families; Mahli, and Mushi. These *are* the families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers.

**21 **Of Gershon *was* the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these *are* the families of the Gershonites. **22 **Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, *even* those that were numbered of them *were* seven thousand and five hundred. **23 **The families of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward. **24 **And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites *shall be* Eliasaph the son of Lael.

**25 **And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation *shall be* the tabernacle, and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, **26 **And the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which *is* by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof.

**27 **And of Kohath *was* the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these *are* the families of the Kohathites. **28 **In the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, *were* eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. **29 **The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward. **30 **And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites *shall be* Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. **31 **And their charge *shall be* the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof. **32 **And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest *shall be* chief over the chief of the Levites, *and have* the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary.

**33 **Of Merari *was* the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these *are* the families of Merari. **34 **And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, *were* six thousand and two hundred. **35 **And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari *was* Zuriel the son of Abihail: *these* shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle northward. **36 **And *under* the custody and charge of the sons of Merari *shall be* the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto, **37 **And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.

**38 **But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, *even* before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, *shall be* Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. **39 **All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, *were* twenty and two thousand.

**40 **And the LORD said unto Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. **41 **And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I *am* the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel. **42 **And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel. **43 **And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.

**44 **And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, **45 **Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I *am* the LORD. **46 **And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites; **47 **Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take *them*: (the shekel *is* twenty gerahs:) **48 **And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to be redeemed, unto Aaron and to his sons. **49 **And Moses took the redemption money of them that were over and above them that were redeemed by the Levites: **50 **Of the firstborn of the children of Israel took he the money; a thousand three hundred and threescore and five *shekels*, after the shekel of the sanctuary: **51 **And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed unto Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.