8. And they will keep all the vessels of the tent of assembly and the responsibilities of the Israelites, to do the work of the tabernacle.
9. You will give the Levites to Aaron and to his descendants; they are surely assigned to him from among the Israelites.
10. But you will count Aaron and his descendants; they will keep their priesthood, and the stranger who approaches will be put to death.”
11. Yahweh spoke to Moses saying,
12. “I myself receive the Levites from the midst of the Israelites in the place of all the firstborn of the offspring of the womb from the Israelites. The Levites will be mine
13. because all the firstborn are mine; on the day of my killing all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both humankind and animal; they will be mine. I am Yahweh.”
14. Yahweh spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, saying,
15. “Muster the descendants of Levi according to their families, according to their clans. You will count every male from one month and above.”
16. So Moses mustered them according to the command of Yahweh, just as he commanded.
17. These were the sons of Levi according to their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
18. And these are the names of the sons of Gershon according to their clans: Libni and Shimei.
19. And the sons of Kohath according to their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
20. The sons of Merari according to their tribes: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their families.
21. To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these are the clans of the Gershonites.
22. The ones counted according to the number of every male from one month and above were seven thousand five hundred.
23. The clans of the Gershonites will camp behind the tabernacle to the west,
24. and the leader of the family of the Gershonites is Eliasaph son of Lael.
25. And the responsibility of the descendants of Gershon in the tent of assembly is the tabernacle, and the tent covering it and the curtain of the doorway of the tent of the assembly,
26. and the hangings of the courtyard and the curtain of the doorway of the courtyard that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its ten cords, all of its use.