Numbers 1:49

49 “You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites.

Numbers 1:49 in Other Translations

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

49 "Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel.

49 “Do not include the tribe of Levi in the registration; do not count them with the rest of the Israelites.

49 "The tribe of Levi is an exception: Don't register them. Don't count the tribe of Levi; don't include them in the general census of the People of Israel.

49 "Do not register or take a census of the tribe of Levi with the [other] Israelites.

Numbers 1:49 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:49

Only thou shall not number the tribe of Levi
That is, along with the other tribes, for it might be numbered by itself, as it afterwards was, ( Numbers 3:43 ) ;

neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel;
which confirms what is before observed: now this being the declared will of God clears Moses from all partiality to his own tribe, he doing nothing but what he had a command of God for it.

Numbers 1:49 In-Context

47 The ancestral tribe of the Levites, however, was not counted along with the others.

48 The LORD had said to Moses:

49 “You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites.

50 Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the covenant law—over all its furnishings and everything belonging to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they are to take care of it and encamp around it.

51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who approaches it is to be put to death.