Old Testament

Numbers

The Exemption of the Levites · 1:47–54

1:47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.

1:48 For the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying,

1:49 Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel:

1:50 But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.

1:51 And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

1:52 And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts.

1:53 But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.

1:54 And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.