7. They are responsible for his needs and the needs of the whole community before the tent of meeting, by attending to the service of the tabernacle.
8. And they are responsible for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and for the needs of the Israelites, as they serve in the tabernacle.
9. You are to assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they will be assigned exclusively to him out of all the Israelites.
10. So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; but the unauthorized person who comes near must be put to death.”
11. Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
12. “Look, I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,
13. because all the firstborn are mine. When I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They belong to me. I am the Lord.”
14. Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai:
15. “Number the Levites by their clans and their families; every male from a month old and upward you are to number.”
16. So Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, just as he had been commanded.
17. These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
18. These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.
19. The sons of Kohath by their families were: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
20. The sons of Merari by their families were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their clans.
21. From Gershon came the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites.
22. Those of them who were numbered, counting every male from a month old and upward, were 7,500.
23. The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle toward the west.