Genesis 46:11

³⁴She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.

¹These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

⁸About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah. ⁹He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant. ¹⁰They shall teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you, and whole burnt offering on your altar. ¹¹LORD, bless his skills. Accept the work of his hands. Strike through the hips of those who rise up against him, of those who hate him, that they not rise again.”

¹⁶These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²“Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, ³from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all who enter into the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

⁴“This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting, regarding the most holy things. ⁵When the camp moves forward, Aaron shall go in with his sons; and they shall take down the veil of the screen, cover the ark of the Testimony with it, ⁶put a covering of sealskin on it, spread a blue cloth over it, and put in its poles.

⁷“On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸They shall spread on them a scarlet cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

⁹“They shall take a blue cloth and cover the lamp stand of the light, its lamps, its snuffers, its snuff dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it. ¹⁰They shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of sealskin, and shall put it on the frame.

¹¹“On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

¹²“They shall take all the vessels of ministry with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of sealskin, and shall put them on the frame.

¹³“They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it. ¹⁴They shall put on it all its vessels with which they minister about it, the fire pans, the meat hooks, the shovels, and the basins—all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of sealskin, and put in its poles.

¹⁵“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it; but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. The sons of Kohath shall carry these things belonging to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶“The duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the continual meal offering, and the anointing oil, the requirements of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, the sanctuary, and its furnishings.”

¹⁷The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸“Don’t cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; ¹⁹but do this to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint everyone to his service and to his burden; ²⁰but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”

²¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²²“Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ houses, by their families; ²³you shall count them from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old: all who enter in to wait on the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

²⁴“This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens: ²⁵they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, the covering of sealskin that is on it, the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting, ²⁶the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the gate of the court which is by the tabernacle and around the altar, their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and whatever shall be done with them. They shall serve in there. ²⁷At the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burden and in all their service; and you shall appoint their duty to them in all their responsibilities. ²⁸This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting. Their duty shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families, by their fathers’ houses; ³⁰you shall count them from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old—everyone who enters on the service, to do the work of the Tent of Meeting. ³¹This is the duty of their burden, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the tabernacle’s boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, ³²the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service. You shall appoint the instruments of the duty of their burden to them by name. ³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, ³⁵from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting. ³⁶Those who were counted of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty. ³⁷These are those who were counted of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

³⁸Those who were counted of the sons of Gershon, by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, ³⁹from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old—everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁰even those who were counted of them, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, were two thousand six hundred thirty. ⁴¹These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD.

⁴²Those who were counted of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, ⁴³from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old—everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁴even those who were counted of them by their families, were three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

⁴⁶All those who were counted of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ houses, ⁴⁷from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered in to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁸even those who were counted of them, were eight thousand five hundred eighty. ⁴⁹According to the commandment of the LORD they were counted by Moses, everyone according to his service and according to his burden. Thus they were counted by him, as the LORD commanded Moses.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to Aaron, and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lamp stand.’”

³Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the lamp stand, as the LORD commanded Moses. ⁴This was the workmanship of the lamp stand, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work. He made the lamp stand according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses.

⁵The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. ⁷You shall do this to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. ⁸Then let them take a young bull and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering. ⁹You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel. ¹⁰You shall present the Levites before the LORD. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, ¹¹and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for a wave offering on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of the LORD.

¹²“The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³You shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to the LORD. ¹⁴Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

¹⁵“After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting. You shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering. ¹⁶For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me. ¹⁷For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. ¹⁸I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel. ¹⁹I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary.”

²⁰Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel did so to the Levites. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. ²¹The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before the LORD and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²²After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

²³The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“This is what is assigned to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting; ²⁵and from the age of fifty years they shall retire from doing the work, and shall serve no more, ²⁶but shall assist their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is how you shall have the Levites do their duties.”

¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ³The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

¹Then David said, “This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

²David gave orders to gather together the foreigners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut dressed stones to build God’s house. ³David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the couplings, and bronze in abundance without weight, ⁴and cedar trees without number, for the Sidonians and the people of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David. ⁵David said, “Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David prepared abundantly before his death. ⁶Then he called for Solomon his son, and commanded him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁷David said to Solomon his son, “As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of the LORD my God. ⁸But the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ‘You have shed blood abundantly and have made great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. ⁹Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of peace. I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. ¹⁰He shall build a house for my name; and he will be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ ¹¹Now, my son, may the LORD be with you and prosper you, and build the house of the LORD your God, as he has spoken concerning you. ¹²May the LORD give you discretion and understanding, and put you in charge of Israel, so that you may keep the law of the LORD your God. ¹³Then you will prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which the LORD gave Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid and don’t be dismayed. ¹⁴Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the LORD’s house one hundred thousand talents^[+] of gold, one million talents^[+] of silver, and bronze and iron without weight; for it is in abundance. I have also prepared timber and stone; and you may add to them. ¹⁵There are also workmen with you in abundance—cutters and workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of men who are skillful in every kind of work; ¹⁶of the gold, the silver, the bronze, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and may the LORD be with you.”

¹⁷David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, ¹⁸“Isn’t the LORD your God with you? Hasn’t he given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before the LORD and before his people. ¹⁹Now set your heart and your soul to follow the LORD your God. Arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the LORD’s name.”

¹⁶and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three.

⁵⁷These are those who were counted of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites. ⁵⁸These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, and the family of the Korahites. Kohath became the father of Amram.