Numbers 4:29-49

Duties of the Merarites

29 "As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers' households;

30 from ¹thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tent of meeting.

31 "Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its sockets,

32 and the pillars around the court and their sockets and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items he is to carry.

33 "This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest."

34 So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers' households,

35 from ²thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting.

36 Their numbered men by their families were 2,750 * * *.

37 These are the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

38 The numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers' households,

39 from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting.

40 Their numbered men by their families, by their fathers' households, were 2,630 * *.

41 These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD.

42 The numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers' households,

43 from ³thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting.

44 Their numbered men by their families were 3,200 * *.

45 These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

46 All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers' households,

47 from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting.

48 Their numbered men were ⁴ 8,580 * * * *.

49 According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses, they ⁵were numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Numbers 4:29-49 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 4

This chapter relates an order to number the Levites fit for business, and gives an account of the time and age when they should enter into service, and how long they should continue therein, Nu 4:1-3; what their particular service should be; and first of the Kohathites, Nu 4:4-20; next of the Gershonites, Nu 4:21-28; and then of the Merarites, Nu 4:29-33; after which Moses and Aaron, with the chief of the congregation, numbered each of them, even as many as were at the age fit for service, as the Kohathites, Nu 4:34-37; the Gershonites, Nu 4:38-41; the Merarites, Nu 4:42-45; the sum total of which is given, Nu 4:46-49.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 4:3; Numbers 8:24-26
• 2. 1 Chronicles 23:24
• 3. Numbers 8:24-26
• 4. Numbers 3:39
• 5. Numbers 1:47

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "bases"
• [b]. Or "bases"
• [c]. Lit "of the duty of their loads"
• [d]. Lit "in the hand"
• [e]. Lit "mouth"
• [f]. Lit "by the hand of"
• [g]. Lit "mouth"
• [h]. Lit "mouth"
• [i]. Lit "by the hand of"
• [j]. Lit "mouth"
• [k]. Lit "by the hand of"