35. The prince of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.
36. The appointed duty of the sons of Merari shall be the tabernacle’s boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its instruments, all its service,
37. the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, and their cords.
38. Those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, in front of the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the requirements of the sanctuary for the duty of the children of Israel. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death.
39. All who were counted of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the commandment of the Lord, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.
40. The Lord said to Moses, “Count all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
41. 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. Moses counted, as the Lord commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel.
43. All the firstborn males according to the number of names from a month old and upward, of those who were counted of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.
44. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
45. “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord.
46. For the redemption of the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel who exceed the number of the Levites,
47. you shall take five shekels apiece for each one; according to the shekel of the sanctuary you shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs);