8. They are to tend to all the implements of the Tent of Meeting and the service of Bnei-Yisrael while performing the service of the Tabernacle.
9. You are to give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. Out of Bnei-Yisrael they are dedicated entirely to him.
10. You are to appoint Aaron and his sons to maintain the priesthood; any commoner who approaches must be executed.”
11. Then Adonai said to Moses saying,
12. “See, I have taken the Levites from among Bnei-Yisrael in place of the firstborn who open the womb among Bnei-Yisrael. The Levites will be Mine,
13. because all the firstborn are Mine. In the day when I was striking down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to Myself every firstborn in Israel—whether man or animal—as Mine. I am Adonai.”
14. Adonai spoke in the Sinai wilderness to Moses saying,
15. “Count the sons of Levi. According to their ancestral house, by their families, every male a month old and upward you are to number them.”
16. So Moses numbered them in accordance with the word of Adonai, just as he was commanded.
17. These were the sons of Levi, by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
18. These then were 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, are Mahli and Mushi. These then were the families of the Levites by their ancestral households.
21. To Gershon belonged the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites. These were the families of the Gershonites.
22. The number of every male one month old and upward who were counted was 7,500.
23. The Gershonites were to camp behind the Tabernacle on the west.
24. The prince of the ancestral house of the Gershonites was Eliasaph son of Lael.