2. Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their clans, made an offering. They were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who had been supervising the numbering.
3. They brought their offering before the Lord, six covered carts and twelve oxen – one cart for every two of the leaders, and an ox for each one; and they presented them in front of the tabernacle.
4. Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
5. “Receive these gifts from them, that they may be used in doing the work of the tent of meeting; and you must give them to the Levites, to every man as his service requires.”
6. So Moses accepted the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.
7. He gave two carts and four oxen to the Gershonites, as their service required;
8. and he gave four carts and eight oxen to the Merarites, as their service required, under the authority of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
9. But to the Kohathites he gave none, because the service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders, was their responsibility.