1The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,2Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by the house of their fathers.3From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting.4This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the holiness of the holinesses.5Aaron and his sons shall come when the camp sets out, and they shall take down the curtain of the covering and cover the ark of the testimony with it.6They shall put over it a covering of leather skin and spread a cloth wholly of blue above, and they shall insert its poles.7They shall spread a blue cloth over the table of the face and put on it the dishes, the palms, the bowls, and the jugs of the drink offering; and the bread of the continual shall be upon it.8They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth and cover it with a covering of leather skin, and they shall set its poles.9They shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its tongs, and its censers, and all the utensils used in its service with which they minister to it.10They shall put it and all its vessels into a covering of leather skin and put it upon the carrying frame.11They shall spread a blue cloth over the altar of the gold and cover it with a covering of leather skin, and they shall set its poles.12They shall take all the vessels of the ministry with which they minister in the holiness, and they shall put them in a blue cloth and cover them with a covering of leather skin, and they shall put them upon the yoke.13They shall clear the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth over it.14They shall put on it all its vessels with which they minister upon it—the censers, the forks, the shovels, and the bowls—all the vessels of the altar; they shall spread a covering of leather skin over it and set its poles.15Aaron and his sons shall finish covering the holiness and all the vessels of the holiness when the camp sets out, and afterward the sons of Kohath shall come to lift, but they shall not touch the holiness, or they will die. These are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting.16The oversight of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is the oil of the light and the incense of the spices and the offering of the continual and the oil of the anointing, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the holiness and in its vessels.17The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,18Do not cut off the Kohathite clan from among the Levites.19This you shall do for them so that they may live and not die when they approach the holiness of the holinesses: Aaron and his sons shall come and set each man upon his service and upon his burden.20They shall not come to see the holiness, lest they die.