9. They are assigned to help Aaron and his sons,
10. who have been appointed to be priests. Anyone else who tries to perform the duties of a priest must be put to death.
11-13. Moses, I have chosen these Levites from all Israel, and they will belong to me in a special way. When I killed the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, I decided that the firstborn sons in every Israelite family and the firstborn males of their flocks and herds would be mine. But now I accept these Levites in place of the firstborn sons of the Israelites.
14. In the Sinai Desert the Lord said to Moses,
15. “Now I want you to count the men and boys in the Levi tribe by families and by clans. Include every one at least a month old.”
16. So Moses obeyed and counted them.
17. Levi's three sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, had become the heads of their own clans.
18. Gershon's sons were Libni and Shimei.
19. Kohath's sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
20. And Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi. These were the sons and grandsons of Levi, and they had become the leaders of the Levite clans.
21. The two Gershon clans were the Libnites and Shimeites,
22. and they had seven thousand five hundred men and boys at least one month old.
23. The Gershonites were to camp on the west side of the sacred tent,
24. under the leadership of Eliasaph son of Lael.
25. Their duties at the tent included taking care of the tent itself, along with its outer covering, the curtain for the entrance,
26. the curtains hanging inside the courtyard around the tent, as well as the curtain and ropes for the entrance to the courtyard and its altar. The Gershonites were responsible for setting these things up and taking them down.
27. The four Kohath clans were the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and the Uzzielites,
28. and they had eight thousand six hundred men and boys at least one month old.