CHAPTER 1
On the first
day of the second
month
of the second
year
after the Israelites had come out
of the land
of Egypt,
the LORD
spoke
to
Moses
in the Tent
of Meeting
in the Wilderness
of Sinai.
He told him,
“Take a census
of the entire
congregation
of the sons
of Israel
by their clans
and families,
listing
the name
of every
man,
one by one.
You
and Aaron
are to register
those
who are twenty
years of age
or older
by their divisions—
everyone
who can serve
in Israel’s
army.
These
are the names
of the men
who
are to assist
you:
From the tribe of Reuben,
Elizur
son
of Shedeur;
from the sons
of Joseph:
from Ephraim,
Elishama
son
of Ammihud,
and from Manasseh,
Gamaliel
son
of Pedahzur;
These men
were appointed
from the congregation;
they were
the leaders
of the tribes
of their fathers,
the heads
of the clans
of Israel.
and
on the first
day of the second
month
they assembled
the whole
congregation
and recorded their ancestry
by
clans
and families,
counting
one by one
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older,
From the sons
of Reuben,
the firstborn
of Israel,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
one
by one the names
of every
male
twenty
years of age
or older,
everyone
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Simeon,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
one
by one the names
of every
male
twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Gad,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Judah,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Issachar,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Zebulun,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Joseph:
From the sons
of Ephraim,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
And from the sons
of Manasseh,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Benjamin,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Dan,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Asher,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
From the sons
of Naphtali,
according to the records
of their clans
and families,
counting
the names
of those twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in the army,
These
were the men
numbered
by Moses
and Aaron,
with the assistance of the twelve
leaders
of Israel;
each one
representing his family.
So all
the Israelites
twenty
years of age
or older
who could serve
in Israel’s
army
were
registered
according to their families.
Instead,
you are to appoint
the Levites
over
the tabernacle
of the testimony,
all
its furnishings,
and everything in it.
They
shall carry
the tabernacle
and all
its articles,
care for it,
and camp
around
it.
Whenever the tabernacle
is to move,
the Levites
are to take it down,
and whenever it
is to be pitched,
the Levites
are to set it up.
Any outsider
who goes near it
must be put to death.
The Israelites
are to camp
by their divisions,
each man
in
his own camp
and under
his own family banner.
But the Levites
are to camp
around
the tabernacle
of the Testimony
and watch over it,
so that no
wrath
shall fall
on
the Israelite
congregation.
So the Levites
are responsible
for the tabernacle
of the Testimony.”