Numbers 4-6

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition

The Kohathites

4 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ² Take a census of the Kohathites separate from the other Levites, by their clans and their ancestral houses, ³ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who qualify to do work relating to the tent of meeting. ⁴ The service of the Kohathites relating to the tent of meeting concerns the most holy things.

⁵ When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the screening curtain, and cover the ark of the covenant^[a] with it; ⁶ then they shall put on it a covering of fine leather,^[b] and spread over that a cloth all of blue, and shall put its poles in place. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, and the flagons for the drink-offering; the regular bread also shall be on it; ⁸ then they shall spread over them a crimson cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather,^[c] and shall put its poles in place. ⁹ They shall take a blue cloth, and cover the lampstand for the light, with its lamps, its snuffers, its trays, and all the vessels for oil with which it is supplied; ¹⁰ and they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of fine leather,^[d] and put it on the carrying-frame. ¹¹ Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather,^[e] and shall put its poles in place; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of the service that are used in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of fine leather,^[f] and put them on the carrying-frame. ¹³ They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it; ¹⁴ and they shall put on it all the utensils of the altar, which are used for the service there, the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of fine leather,^[g] and shall put its poles in place. ¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the Kohathites shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the Kohathites are to carry.

¹⁶ Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain-offering, and the anointing-oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its utensils.

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ¹⁸ You must not let the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites. ¹⁹ This is how you must deal with them in order that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each to a particular task or burden. ²⁰ But the Kohathites^[h] must not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment; otherwise they will die.

The Gershonites and Merarites

²¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²² Take a census of the Gershonites also, by their ancestral houses and by their clans; ²³ from thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall enrol them, all who qualify to do work in the tent of meeting. ²⁴ This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites, in serving and bearing burdens: ²⁵ They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting with its covering, and the outer covering of fine leather^[i] that is on top of it, and the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, and all the equipment for their service; and they shall do all that needs to be done with regard to them. ²⁷ All the service of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all that they are to carry, and in all that they have to do; and you shall assign to their charge all that they are to carry. ²⁸ This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites relating to the tent of meeting, and their responsibilities are to be under the oversight of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹ As for the Merarites, you shall enrol them by their clans and their ancestral houses; ³⁰ from thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall enrol them, everyone who qualifies to do the work of the tent of meeting. ³¹ This is what they are charged to carry, as the whole of their service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the tabernacle, with its bars, pillars, and bases, ³² and the pillars of the court all around with their bases, pegs, and cords, with all their equipment and all their related service; and you shall assign by name the objects that they are required to carry. ³³ This is the service of the clans of the Merarites, the whole of their service relating to the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

Census of the Levites

³⁴ So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation enrolled the Kohathites, by their clans and their ancestral houses, ³⁵ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting; ³⁶ and their enrolment by clans was two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷ This was the enrolment of the clans of the Kohathites, all who served at the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

³⁸ The enrolment of the Gershonites, by their clans and their ancestral houses, ³⁹ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting— ⁴⁰ their enrolment by their clans and their ancestral houses was two thousand six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹ This was the enrolment of the clans of the Gershonites, all who served at the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the Lord.

⁴² The enrolment of the clans of the Merarites, by their clans and their ancestral houses, ⁴³ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified for work relating to the tent of meeting— ⁴⁴ their enrolment by their clans was three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵ This is the enrolment of the clans of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

⁴⁶ All those who were enrolled of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel enrolled, by their clans and their ancestral houses, ⁴⁷ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens relating to the tent of meeting, ⁴⁸ their enrolment was eight thousand five hundred and eighty. ⁴⁹ According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were appointed to their several tasks of serving or carrying; thus they were enrolled by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Unclean Persons

5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Command the Israelites to put out of the camp everyone who is leprous,^[j] or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with a corpse; ³ you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp; they must not defile their camp, where I dwell among them. ⁴ The Israelites did so, putting them outside the camp; as the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.

Confession and Restitution

⁵ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶ Speak to the Israelites: When a man or a woman wrongs another, breaking faith with the Lord, that person incurs guilt ⁷ and shall confess the sin that has been committed. The person shall make full restitution for the wrong, adding one-fifth to it, and giving it to the one who was wronged. ⁸ If the injured party has no next-of-kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for the guilty party. ⁹ Among all the sacred donations of the Israelites, every gift that they bring to the priest shall be his. ¹⁰ The sacred donations of all are their own; whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.

Concerning an Unfaithful Wife

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹² Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³ if a man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden from her husband, so that she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught in the act; ¹⁴ if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself; ¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain-offering of jealousy, a grain-offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶ Then the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord; ¹⁷ the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸ The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain-offering of remembrance, which is the grain-offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. ¹⁹ Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you’— ²¹ let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—‘the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge; ²² now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen. Amen.’

²³ Then the priest shall put these curses in writing, and wash them off into the water of bitterness. ²⁴ He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her and cause bitter pain. ²⁵ The priest shall take the grain-offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall elevate the grain-offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; ²⁶ and the priest shall take a handful of the grain-offering, as its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterwards shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷ When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop, and the woman shall become an execration among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.

²⁹ This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰ or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her. ³¹ The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.

The Nazirites

6 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a nazirite,^[k] to separate themselves to the Lord, ³ they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar, and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried. ⁴ All their days as nazirites^[l] they shall eat nothing that is produced by the grape-vine, not even the seeds or the skins.

⁵ All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the Lord, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.

⁶ All the days that they separate themselves to the Lord they shall not go near a corpse. ⁷ Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves; because their consecration to God is upon the head. ⁸ All their days as nazirites^[m] they are holy to the Lord.

⁹ If someone dies very suddenly nearby, defiling the consecrated head, then they shall shave the head on the day of their cleansing; on the seventh day they shall shave it. ¹⁰ On the eighth day they shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, ¹¹ and the priest shall offer one as a sin-offering and the other as a burnt-offering, and make atonement for them, because they incurred guilt by reason of the corpse. They shall sanctify the head that same day, ¹² and separate themselves to the Lord for their days as nazirites,^[n] and bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt-offering. The former time shall be void, because the consecrated head was defiled.

¹³ This is the law for the nazirites^[o] when the time of their consecration has been completed: they shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, ¹⁴ and they shall offer their gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt-offering, one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin-offering, one ram without blemish as an offering of well-being, ¹⁵ and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of choice flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, with their grain-offering and their drink-offerings. ¹⁶ The priest shall present them before the Lord and offer their sin-offering and burnt-offering, ¹⁷ and shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest also shall make the accompanying grain-offering and drink-offering. ¹⁸ Then the nazirites^[p] shall shave the consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair from the consecrated head and put it on the fire under the sacrifice of well-being. ¹⁹ The priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them in the palms of the nazirites,^[q] after they have shaved the consecrated head. ²⁰ Then the priest shall elevate them as an elevation-offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is elevated and the thigh that is offered. After that the nazirites^[r] may drink wine.

²¹ This is the law for the nazirites^[s] who take a vow. Their offering to the Lord must be in accordance with the nazirite^[t] vow, apart from what else they can afford. In accordance with whatever vow they take, so they shall do, following the law for their consecration.

The Priestly Benediction

²² The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³ Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,

²⁷ So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.