1. These are the offspring of Aaron and Moses at the time the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.
2. These are the names of Aaron’s sons: Nadab, the firstborn, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
3. These are the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests whom he ordained to serve as priests.
4. But Nadab and Abihu died in the presence of the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; and they left no sons. So only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.
5. Now the Lord said to Moses:
6. Summon the tribe of Levi and station them before Aaron the priest to serve him.
7. They shall discharge his obligations and those of the whole community before the tent of meeting by maintaining the tabernacle.
8. They shall have responsibility for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and discharge the obligations of the Israelites by maintaining the tabernacle.
9. You shall assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been assigned unconditionally to him from among the Israelites.
10. But you will appoint only Aaron and his descendants to exercise the priesthood. Any unauthorized person who comes near shall be put to death.
11. The Lord said to Moses:
12. I hereby take the Levites from the Israelites in place of every firstborn that opens the womb among the Israelites. The Levites, therefore, are mine,
13. because every firstborn is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to me every firstborn in Israel, human being and beast alike. They belong to me; I am the Lord.
14. The Lord said to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai:
15. Enroll the Levites by their ancestral houses and clans, enrolling every male of a month or more.
16. Moses, therefore, enrolled them at the direction of the Lord, just as the Lord had charged.