3:1 These also [are] the a generations of Aaron and Moses in
the day [that] the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai.
(a) Or, families and kindreds.
3:4 And Nadab and Abihu died b before the LORD, when they
offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of
Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar
ministered in the priest's office in the c sight of Aaron
their father.
(b) Or, before the altar.
(c) While their father lived.
3:6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and d present them before
Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.
(d) Offer them to Aaron for the use of the tabernacle.
3:7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole
congregation e before the tabernacle of the congregation,
to do the service of the tabernacle.
(e) Which belonged to the executing of the high priests
commandment, to the oversight of the people, and the
service of the tabernacle.
3:9 And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his f
sons: they [are] wholly given unto him out of the children
of Israel.
(f) Aaron's sons the priests served in the sanctuary in
praying for the people and offering sacrifice: the
Levites served for the inferior uses of the same.
3:10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall
wait on their priest's office: and the g stranger that
cometh nigh shall be put to death.
(g) Any that would minister not being a Levite.
3:22 Those that were numbered of them, h according to the
number of all the males, from a month old and upward,
[even] those that were numbered of them [were] seven
thousand and five hundred.
(h) Only numbering the male children.
3:25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of
the congregation [shall be] the i tabernacle, and the
tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation,
(i) Their charge was to carry the covering and hangings of
the tabernacle.
3:28 In the number of all the males, from a month old and
upward, [were] eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the
k charge of the sanctuary.
(k) Everyone doing his duty in the sanctuary.
3:31 And their charge [shall be] the l ark, and the table, and
the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the
sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all
the service thereof.
(l) The main things within the sanctuary were committed to
the Kohathites.
3:36 And [under] the custody and charge of the sons of Merari
[shall be] m the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars
thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof,
and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto,
(m) The wood work and the rest of the instruments were
committed to their charge.
3:38 But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the
east, [even] before the tabernacle of the congregation
eastward, [shall be] Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping
the charge of the sanctuary n for the charge of the
children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall
be put to death.
(n) That no one should enter into the tabernacle contrary
to God's appointment.
3:39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and
Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout
their families, all the males from a month old and upward,
[were] twenty and two o thousand.
(o) So that the first born of the children of Israel were
more by 273, as in (Nu 3:43).
3:41 And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I [am] the LORD)
f instead of all the firstborn among the children of
Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the
firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
(f) So that now the Levites should satisfy the Lord for the
first born of Israel, excepting the 273 which were more
than the Levites for whom they paid money.
3:50 Of the q firstborn of the children of Israel took he the
money; a thousand three hundred and threescore and five
[shekels], after the shekel of the sanctuary:
(q) Or the two hundred seventy and three which were more
than the Levites.
