Numbers 1:47-54
Levites Not Numbered in the Census
47aThe Levites, however, were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe. 48Yahweh had spoken to Moses, saying, 49“Only the tribe of Levi ayou shall not number, nor shall you take their 1census among the sons of Israel. 50“But you shall aappoint the Levites over the 1tabernacle of the testimony and over all its furnishings and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall attend to it; they shall also camp around the tabernacle. 51“aSo when the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But bthe 1layman who comes near shall be put to death. 52“aAnd the sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies. 53“aBut the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony so that there will be bno wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. cSo the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.” 54Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which Yahweh had commanded Moses, so they did.