18 Oct 2025 – jeffersonvann

Numbers 3

Numbers 3:1 These stories tell the history of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Yahveh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

Numbers 3:2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Numbers 3:3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests.

Numbers 3:4 But Nadab and Abihu died at Yahveh’s face when they offered unauthorized fire to Yahveh’s face in the open country of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.

Numbers 3:5 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Numbers 3:6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, so they may serve him.

Numbers 3:7 They will keep guard over him and over the whole assembly at the conference tent, as they serve at the tabernacle.

Numbers 3:8 They will guard all the furnishings of the conference tent, and keep guard over the sons of Israel as they serve at the tabernacle.

Numbers 3:9 And you will give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are totally given to him from among the sons of Israel.

Numbers 3:10 And you will appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will guard their priesthood. But if any unauthorized person comes near, he will be put to death.”

Numbers 3:11 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Numbers 3:12 “I (you will notice) have purchased the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the uterus among the people of Israel. The Levites will be mine,

Numbers 3:13 because all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of human and of animal. They will be mine: I am Yahveh.”

Numbers 3:14 And Yahveh spoke to Moses in the open country of Sinai, and this is what he said,

Numbers 3:15 “Muster the sons of Levi, by fathers’ houses and by clans; every male from a month old and upward you will muster.”

Numbers 3:16 So Moses mustered them according to the Yahveh’s word, as he was commanded.

Numbers 3:17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.

Numbers 3:18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans: Libni and Shimei.

Numbers 3:19 And the sons of Kohath by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

Numbers 3:20 And the sons of Merari by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, by their fathers’ houses.

Numbers 3:21 To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these were the clans of the Gershonites.

Numbers 3:22 Their mustering according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was 7,500.

Numbers 3:23 The clans of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle on the west,

Numbers 3:24 with Elyasaph, the son of Lael as chief of the fathers’ house of the Gershonites.

Numbers 3:25 And the guard duty of the sons of Gershon in the conference tent involved the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the conference tent,

Numbers 3:26 the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords– all the service connected with these.

Numbers 3:27 From Kohath came the clan of the Amramites and the clan of the Izharites and the clan of the Hebronites and the clan of the Uzzielites; these are the clans of the Kohathites.

Numbers 3:28 According to the mustering of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, responsible to keep guard over the sanctuary.

Numbers 3:29 The clans of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle,

Numbers 3:30 with Elizaphan the son of Uzziel as general over the fathers’ house of the clans of the Kohathites.

Numbers 3:31 And their guard duty involved the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which the priests serve, and the screen; all the service connected with these.

Numbers 3:32 And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was to be general over the generals of the Levites, and to have oversight of those who kept guard over the sanctuary.

Numbers 3:33 To Merari belonged the clan of the Mahlites and the clan of the Mushites: these are the clans of Merari.

Numbers 3:34 Their mustering according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was 6,200.

Numbers 3:35 And the general from the fathers’ house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

Numbers 3:36 And the appointed guard duty of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases, and all their accessories; all the service connected with these;

Numbers 3:37 also the pillars around the court, with their bases and pegs and cords.

Numbers 3:38 Those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle on the east, in front of the conference tent toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, guarding the sanctuary itself, to protect the people of Israel. And any unauthorized person who came near was to be put to death.

Numbers 3:39 All those mustered among the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the command of Yahveh, by clans, all the males from a month old and upward, were 22,000.

Numbers 3:40 And Yahveh said to Moses, “Muster all the firstborn males of the sons of Israel, from a month old and upward, taking the number of their names.

Numbers 3:41 And you will take the Levites for me– I am Yahveh– instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the animals of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the animals of the sons of Israel.”

Numbers 3:42 So Moses mustered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, as Yahveh commanded him.

Numbers 3:43 And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names, from a month old and upward as mustered were 22,273.

Numbers 3:44 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Numbers 3:45 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the animals of the Levites instead of their animals. The Levites will be mine: I am Yahveh.

Numbers 3:46 And as the redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites,

Numbers 3:47 you will take five shekels per head; you will take them according to the shekel of the sanctuary (that shekel being twenty gerahs),

Numbers 3:48 and give the money to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for those who are over.”

Numbers 3:49 So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites.

Numbers 3:50 From the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money, 1,365 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary.

Numbers 3:51 And Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of Yahveh, as Yahveh commanded Moses.

Numbers 3 quotes:

“The setting aside of the Levites for tabernacle service is meant to remind the Israelites of their being set aside by God in the exodus. As the Lord had required the lives of the Egyptians but not the Israelites, so legislation was set in place ever afterward to require the firstborn of Israel “for the Lord” (Exod. 13:1-2). However, since those freely dedicated for such service could be redeemed by payment (Lev. 27), those required for consecration were now individually “redeemed” (one for one) by the Levites (with an extra payment for the 273 left over; Num. 3:44-51).”

Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 117.

“The Levites’ presence as God’s workers was a permanent visual aid to God’s people, signifying two great biblical ideas: surrender and substitution.”

Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 36.

“Sacrifice of human first-born children, although it may have been practiced in the surrounding Canaanite culture, is never mentioned in the Old Testament as a practice of the Israelites. Instead, the Levites are a substitute for the first-born; they are dedicated to God.”

Deming Lynne M. Numbers and Deuteronomy. Graded Press 1988. p. 17.

“… the Lord separated the tribe of Levi and assigned them specific tasks (3:1-51). Most important were Aaron and his sons, since they were to be “the anointed priests” (3:3; see Exod. 28-29). All the Levites were significant, though, for they were specifically chosen from among the Israelites to serve God. They belonged to the Lord (3:11-13, 45), so they were a separated group within the holy nation. They were not better than the rest of the people. But they were held to higher standards than the others (see Lev. 21-22).”

House, Paul R. Leviticus/Numbers. Broadman & Holman, 1999. p. 58.