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24 four hundred. All that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim [were] an hundred thousand and eight thousand and an hundred, throughout their armies. And they shall go forward in the third rank.

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The standard of the camp of Dan [shall be] on the north side by their armies: and the captain of the children of Dan 26 [shall be] Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, [were] threescore and 27 two thousand and seven hundred. And those that encamp by him [shall be] the tribe of Asher: and the captain of the 28 children of Asher [shall be] Pagiel the son of Ocran. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, [were] forty 29 and one thousand and five hundred. Then the tribe of Naph

tali and the captain of the children of Naphtali [shall be] 30 Ahira the son of Enan. And his host, and those that were

numbered of them, [were] fifty and three thousand and four 31 hundred. All they that were numbered in the camp of Dan [were] an hundred thousand and fifty and seven thousand and six hundred. They shall go hindmost with their standards.

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These [are] those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers: all those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts [were] six hundred 33 thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel; 34 as the LORD commanded Moses. And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses: so they pitched by their standards, and so they set forward, every one after their families, according to the house of their fathers.

CHAP. III.

The Levites service, and the firstborn freed.

THES senatory, and the things that befell them, in

HESE also [are] the generations of Aaron and Mo

the day [that] the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai. 2 And these [are] the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the 3 firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These [are] the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's 4 office. And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office, in the sight of Aaron their father, while he lived.

-56And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him, assist him in the holy ministra7tions. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, 8 to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle; they shall watch the tabernacle, guard the treasures, 9 and assist in all the business relating to it. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they [are] wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel, to help 10 him in the work of the sanctuary. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office, they themselves in their own persons, (Ezek. xliv. 8.) and not turn over the work of the sanctuary to the Levites: and the stranger, any one that is not of Aaron's seed, that cometh nigh to execute any part of the priest's office, shall be put to death.

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11 12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; 13 Because all the firstborn [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast; mine they shall be: I [am] the LORD.

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And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of 15 Sinai, saying, Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them, because the redemption of the firstborn was to be from a month old, (ch. xviii. 15, 16 16.) And Moses numbered them according to the word of 17 the LORD, as he was commanded. And these were the sons

of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. 18 And these [are] the names of the sons of Gershon by their 19 families; Libni, and Shimei. And the sons of Kohath by their families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 20 And the sons of Merari by their families; Mahli, and Mushi, These [are] the families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers.

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Of Gershon [was] the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these [are] the families of the Ger22 shonites. Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, [even] those that were numbered of them [were] seven thou23 sand and five hundred. The families of the Gershonites 24 shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward. And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites [shall be] EliVOL. II.

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25 asaph the son of Lael. And the charge of the sons of Ger shon in the tabernacle of the congregation [shall be] the tabernacle, and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 26 And the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which [is] by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof.

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And of Kohath [was] the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these [are] the families of 28 the Kohathites. In the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, [were] eight thousand and six hundred, 29 keeping the charge of the sanctuary. The families of the

sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle south30 ward. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites [shall be] Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. 31 And their charge [shall be] the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof, that is, the vessels which belong to the service. 32 And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest [shall be] chief over the chief of the Levites, [and have] the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary ; he shall be next to the high priest, called the second priest, 2 Kings xxv. 18. who supplied the place of the high priest upon any special occasion, and had superiority over all the rest of the priests and Levites, 1 Chron. ix. 20.

33 Of Merari [was] the family of the Mahlites, and the family 34 of the Mushites: these [are] the families of Merari. And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, [were] six 35 thousand and two hundred. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari [was] Zuriel the son of Abihail [these] shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle 36 northward. And [under] the custody and charge of the sons of Merari [shall be] the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, 37 and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto, And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.

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But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, [even] before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, [shall be] Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, through

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out their families, all the males from a month old and upward, [were] twenty and two thousand.*

And the LORD said unto Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and 41 upward, and take the number of their names. And thou shalt take the Levites for me, (I [am] the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of 42 the children of Israel. And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Is43 rael. And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.

44 45 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; 46 and the Levites shall be mine: I [am] the LORD. And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, 47 which are more than the Levites; Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take [them] (the shekel [is] twenty gerahs :) 48 And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number 49 of them is to be redeemed, unto Aaron and to his sons. And

Moses took the redemption money of them that were over 50 and above them that were redeemed by the Levites: Of the firstborn of the children of Israel took he the money; a thousand three hundred and threescore and five [shekels,] after the shekel of the sanctuary, which makes one hundred and fifty five pounds, thirteen shillings and eleven pence of our money, 51 And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed unto Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.

The particulars here make up twenty two thousand three hundred ; but out of them must be deducted Aaron and the priests, and the firstborn of the Levites, which were the Lord's in a peculiar manner, (Exod. xiii. 2.) and so could not be given to him again nstead of the other firstborn, Lev. xxvii, 26.

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CHAP. IV.

The Levites' service and office.

ND the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house 3 of their fathers, From thirty years old and upward, even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, or service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.*

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This [shall be] the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, [about] the most holy things: 5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil that hung before the most holy place, and cover the ark of testimony 6 with it ; And shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over [it] a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. And upon the table of shew bread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover 8 withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon: And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves 9 thercof. And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuff dishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith. they 10 minister unto it: And they shall put it and all the vessels

thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put [it] 11 upon a bar. And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, 12 and shall put to the staves thereof: And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put [them] in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put [them] on a 13 bar: And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and 14 spread a purple cloth thereon: And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, [even] the censers, the flesh hooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it.

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And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear [it] but they shall not touch [any] holy thing,

They began to be probationers at twenty five years old. (ch. viii. 24.) but were not admitted to their full ministration till thirty. Which was altered by David. (by direc tion from God, 1 Chron. xxviii. 13, 19.) to twenty years old; because then there was na occasion for their carrying the tabernacle, and therefore not so much bodily strength required, 1 Chron. xxiii. 24, 26. Yet after their superannuation they were still to be assistant as overseers. See ch. viii. 25, 26.

+ Upon this occasion the ordinary priests might go into the holy of holies; and when they had done all their work there, the Levites might come also to carry the ark, v. 15,

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