The Levites are numbered and their offices distinguished. They are taken in the place of the firstborn of the children of Israel.
3:1. These are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai.
3:2. And these the names of the sons of Aaron: his firstborn Nadab, then Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.
3:3. These the names of the sons of Aaron the priests that were anointed, and whose hands were filled and consecrated, to do the functions of priesthood.
3:4. Now Nadab and Abiu died, without children, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the desert of Sinai: and Eleazar and Ithamar performed the priestly office in the presence of Aaron their father.
3:5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
3:6. Bring the tribe of Levi, and make them stand in the sight of Aaron the priest to minister to him, and let them watch,
3:7. And observe whatsoever appertaineth to the service of the multitude before the tabernacle of the testimony,
3:8. And let them keep the vessels of the tabernacle, serving in the ministry thereof.
3:9. And thou shalt give the Levites for a gift,