10. You are to appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out their priestly responsibilities, but any unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”
11. The Lord spoke to Moses:
12. “See, I have taken the Levites from the Israelites in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb. The Levites belong to Me,
13. because every firstborn belongs to Me. At the time I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated every firstborn in Israel to Myself, both man and animal. They are Mine; I am Yahweh.”
14. The Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:
15. “Register the Levites by their ancestral houses and their clans. You are to register every male one month old or more.”
16. So Moses registered them in obedience to the Lord as he had been commanded:
17. These were Levi’s sons by name: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
18. These were the names of Gershon’s sons by their clans: Libni and Shimei.
19. Kohath’s sons by their clans were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
20. Merari’s sons by their clans were Mahli and Mushi. These were the Levite clans by their ancestral houses.
21. The Libnite clan and the Shimeite clan came from Gershon; these were the Gershonite clans.
22. Those registered, counting every male one month old or more, numbered 7,500.
23. The Gershonite clans camped behind the tabernacle on the west side,
24. and the leader of the Gershonite family was Eliasaph son of Lael.
25. The Gershonites’ duties at the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle, the tent, its covering, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting,
26. the hangings of the courtyard, the screen for the entrance to the courtyard that surrounds the tabernacle and the altar, and the tent ropes — all the work relating to these.
27. The Amramite clan, the Izharite clan, the Hebronite clan, and the Uzzielite clan came from Kohath; these were the Kohathites.