Outside the veil-canopy ¹  of the congregation in the Meeting Tent Aaron ²  must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. ³ 

¹ Now the Lord ²  spoke ³  to Moses in the tent of meeting ⁴  in the wilderness ⁵  of Sinai ⁶  on the first day of the second month of the second year after ⁷  the Israelites ⁸  departed from the land of Egypt. ⁹  He said:

“Then the tent of meeting with the camp of the Levites will travel in the middle of the camps. They will travel in the same order as they camped, each in his own place ¹  under his standard.

This is the service of the families of the Gershonites concerning the tent of meeting. Their responsibilities will be under the authority ¹  of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. ² 

and the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their sockets, tent pegs, and ropes, along with all their furnishings and everything for their service. You are to assign by names the items that each man is responsible to carry. ¹ 

These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered to do the work of service and the work of carrying ¹  relating to the tent of meeting –

“‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head ¹  at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire ²  where the peace offering is burning. ³ 

“Receive these gifts ¹  from them, that they may be ²  used in doing the work ³  of the tent of meeting; and you must give them to the Levites, to every man ⁴  as his service requires.” ⁵ 

After this, the Levites went in to do their work in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did.

“This is what pertains to the Levites: ¹  At the age of twenty-five years ²  and upward one may begin to join the company ³  in the work of the tent of meeting,

They may assist ¹  their colleagues ²  in the tent of meeting, to attend to needs, but they must do no work. This is the way you must establish ³  the Levites regarding their duties.”

¹ On ²  the day that the tabernacle was set up, ³  the cloud ⁴  covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony ⁵  – and from evening until morning there was ⁶  a fiery appearance ⁷  over the tabernacle.

¹ Moses heard the people weeping ²  throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. ³ 

And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony – and ¹  the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds! ² 

“Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ¹  with you and minister to you while ²  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

I myself have chosen ¹  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ²  of the tent of meeting.

But the Levites must perform the service ¹  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ²  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ³  have no inheritance. ⁴