31. And their charge was the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they ministered, and the curtain, and all that belongs to its service.
32. And the prince of princes of the Levites was Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest: he had the oversight of them that kept the charge of the sanctuary.
33. Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari.
34. And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred.
35. And the prince of the father's house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They encamped on the side of the tabernacle northward.
36. And the charge of the sons of Merari consisted in the oversight of the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases, and all its furniture, and all that belongs to its service,
37. and the pillars of the court round about, and their bases, and their pegs, and their cords.
38. And those who encamped before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrising, were Moses, and Aaron and his sons, who kept the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh near shall be put to death.
39. All that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of Jehovah, according to their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.
40. And Jehovah said to Moses, Number all the first-born males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
41. And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am Jehovah) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites, instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
42. And Moses numbered, as Jehovah had commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel.