33
Of Merar'i were the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merar'i.
34
Their number according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was six thousand two hundred.
35
And the head of the fathers' house of the families of Merar'i was Zu'riel the son of Ab'ihail; they were to encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.
36
And the appointed charge of the sons of Merar'i was to be the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases, and all their accessories; all the service pertaining to these;
37
also the pillars of the court round about, with their bases and pegs and cords.
38
And those to encamp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, having charge of the rites within the sanctuary, whatever had to be done for the people of Israel; and any one else who came near was to be put to death.
39
All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, by families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.
40
And the LORD said to Moses, "Number all the first-born males of the people of Israel, from a month old and upward, taking their number by names.
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And you shall take the Levites for me--I am the LORD--instead of all the first-born among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the people of Israel."
42
So Moses numbered all the first-born among the people of Israel, as the LORD commanded him.
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And all the first-born males, according to the number of names, from a month old and upward as numbered were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.
44
And the LORD said to Moses,
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"Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.
46
And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the first-born of the people of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites,
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you shall take five shekels apiece; reckoning by the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs, you shall take them,
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and give the money by which the excess number of them is redeemed to Aaron and his sons."
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So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites;
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from the first-born of the people of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, reckoned by the shekel of the sanctuary;
51
and Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.