Duties of the Kohathites

¹The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²“Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans and their fathers' houses, ³from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can come on duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. ⁵When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. ⁶Then they shall put on it a covering of goatskin1 and spread on top of that a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles. ⁷And over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a cloth of blue and put on it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, and the flagons for the drink offering; the regular showbread also shall be on it. ⁸Then they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet and cover the same with a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. ⁹And they shall take a cloth of blue and cover the lampstand for the light, with its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all the vessels for oil with which it is supplied. ¹⁰And they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of goatskin and put it on the carrying frame. ¹¹And over the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue and cover it with a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. ¹²And they shall take all the vessels of the service that are used in the sanctuary and put them in a cloth of blue and cover them with a covering of goatskin and put them on the carrying frame. ¹³And they shall take away the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴And they shall put on it all the utensils of the altar, which are used for the service there, the fire pans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of the whole tabernacle and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels.”

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ¹⁸“Let not the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites, ¹⁹but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, ²⁰but they shall not go in to look on the holy things 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 and by their clans. ²³From thirty years old up to fifty years old, you shall list them, all who can come to do duty, to do service in the tent of meeting. ²⁴This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites, in serving and bearing burdens: ²⁵they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of goatskin that is on top of it and the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting ²⁶and the hangings of the court and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service. And they shall do all that needs to be done with regard to them. ²⁷All the service of the sons of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all that they are to carry and in all that they have to do. And you shall assign to their charge all that they are to carry. ²⁸This is the service of the clans of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their guard duty is to be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall list them by their clans and their fathers' houses. ³⁰From thirty years old up to fifty years old, you shall list them, everyone who can come on duty, to do the service of the tent of meeting. ³¹And this is what they are charged to carry, as the whole of their service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the tabernacle, with its bars, pillars, and bases, ³²and the pillars around the court with their bases, pegs, and cords, with all their equipment and all their accessories. And you shall list by name the objects that they are required to carry. ³³This is the service of the clans of the sons of Merari, the whole of their service in the tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴And Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the congregation listed the sons of the Kohathites, by their clans and their fathers' houses, ³⁵from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come on duty, for service in the tent of meeting; ³⁶and those listed by clans were 2,750. ³⁷This was the list of the clans of the Kohathites, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron listed according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

³⁸Those listed of the sons of Gershon, by their clans and their fathers' houses, ³⁹from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come on duty for service in the tent of meeting—⁴⁰those listed by their clans and their fathers' houses were 2,630. ⁴¹This was the list of the clans of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron listed according to the commandment of the Lord.

⁴²Those listed of the clans of the sons of Merari, by their clans and their fathers' houses, ⁴³from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come on duty, for service in the tent of meeting—⁴⁴those listed by clans were 3,200. ⁴⁵This was the list of the clans of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron listed according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

⁴⁶All those who were listed of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel listed, by their clans and their fathers' houses, ⁴⁷from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come to do the service of ministry and the service of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁸those listed were 8,580. ⁴⁹According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were listed, each one with his task of serving or carrying. Thus they were listed by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

¹O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath!

²For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.

³There is no soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

because of my sin.

⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head;

like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds stink and fester

because of my foolishness,

⁶I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;

all the day I go about mourning.

⁷For my sides are filled with burning,

and there is no soundness in my flesh.

⁸I am feeble and crushed;

I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

⁹O Lord, all my longing is before you;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart throbs; my strength fails me,

and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.

¹¹My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,

and my nearest kin stand far off.

¹²Those who seek my life lay their snares;

those who seek my hurt speak of ruin

and meditate treachery all day long.

¹³But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

¹⁴I have become like a man who does not hear,

and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

¹⁵But for you, O Lord, do I wait;

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

¹⁶For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,

who boast against me when my foot slips!”

¹⁷For I am ready to fall,

and my pain is ever before me.

¹⁸I confess my iniquity;

I am sorry for my sin.

¹⁹But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,

and many are those who hate me wrongfully.

²⁰Those who render me evil for good

accuse me because I follow after good.

²¹Do not forsake me, O Lord!

O my God, be not far from me!

²²Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!

¹I am a rose1 of Sharon,

a lily of the valleys.

He

²As a lily among brambles,

so is my love among the young women.

She

³As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my beloved among the young men.

With great delight I sat in his shadow,

and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the banqueting house,2

and his banner over me was love.

⁵Sustain me with raisins;

refresh me with apples,

for I am sick with love.

⁶His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

⁷I adjure you,3 O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

⁸The voice of my beloved!

Behold, he comes,

leaping over the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

⁹My beloved is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Behold, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

looking through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

¹¹for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

¹²The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing4 has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree ripens its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

¹⁴O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the crannies of the cliff,

let me see your face,

let me hear your voice,

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.

¹⁵Catch the foxes5 for us,

the little foxes

that spoil the vineyards,

for our vineyards are in blossom.”

¹⁶My beloved is mine, and I am his;

he grazes6 among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day breathes

and the shadows flee,

turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle

or a young stag on cleft mountains.7

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

¹Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. ²For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, ³how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, ⁴while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

The Founder of Salvation

⁵For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. ⁶It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man, that you care for him?

⁷You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned him with glory and honor,1

⁸putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. ⁹But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. ¹¹For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.2 That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,3 ¹²saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

¹³And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

¹⁴Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. ¹⁶For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.