Numbers 1:46-53

⁴⁶all those who were counted were six hundred and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.

⁴⁷But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not counted amongst them.

⁴⁸For the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁴⁹“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not count, neither shall you take a census of them amongst the children of Israel;

⁵⁰but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it.

⁵¹When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.

⁵²The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions.

⁵³But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”