38aMoreover those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tabernacle of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, bkeeping charge of the sanctuary, cto meet the needs of the children of Israel; but dthe outsider who came near was to be put to death.
39aAll who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, by their families, all the males from a month old and above, were twenty-two thousand.
Levites Dedicated Instead of the Firstborn
40 Then the Lord said to Moses: a“Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names.
41aAnd you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.”
42 So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded him.
43 And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.
45a“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites shall be Mine: I am the Lord.
46 And for athe redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, bwho are more than the number of the Levites,
47 you shall take afive shekels for each one bindividually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, cthe shekel of twenty gerahs.
48 And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons.”
49 So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites.
50 From the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, aone thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
51 And Moses agave their redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
NUMBERS. This book is so called because it contains an account of the enumeration and arrangement of the Israelites. The early part of it, from the first through the tenth chapters, appears to be a supplement to Leviticus, being occupied with relating the appointment of the Levites to the sacred offices. The journal of the march through the wilderness is then given as far as Numbers 21:20; after which the early incidents of the invasion are narrated. One direct quotation only from this book (Numbers 16:5) is made in the New Testament (II Timothy 2:19); but indirect references to it by the later sacred writers are very numerous.
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