Numbers 4:1-20
The Duties of the Kohathites

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

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2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers,

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3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

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4 This [shall be] the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, [about] the most holy things:

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5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:

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6 And shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall spread over [it] a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.

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7 And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:

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8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.

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9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:

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10 And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put [it] upon a bar.

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11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:

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12 And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put [them] in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put [them] on a bar:

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13 And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon:

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14 And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, [even] the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it.

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15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear [it]: but they shall not touch [any] holy thing, lest they die. These [things are] the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

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16 And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest [pertaineth] the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, [and] the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein [is], in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.

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17 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

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18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:

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19 But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:

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20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

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