Numbers 1:46-53

⁴⁶All the numbered ones were six hundred and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.

⁴⁷But the Levites, by the tribe of their fathers, were not numbered among them.

⁴⁸And the Lord had spoken with Mosheh, saying:

⁴⁹Only the tribe of Levi thou shalt not number, nor take the account of them among the sons of Israel.

⁵⁰But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its vessels, and over all that belongeth to it: and they shall carry the tabernacle and all its vessels, and serve it; and they shall encamp round about the tabernacle.

⁵¹And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it apart; and when the tabernacle is to be stationary, the Levites shall set it up; but the stranger who cometh nigh shall be put to death.

⁵²And the sons of Israel shall encamp every man upon his own dwelling-place, and every man by his standard, according to their hosts.

⁵³But the Levites shall dwell round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there may not be wrath upon the congregation of the sons of Israel; and the Levites shall watch the watching of the tabernacle of testimony.