Numbers 4:15

“Then Aaron and his sons have finished covering all these sacred things, the Israeli people will be ready to move to a new location. The descendants of Kohath must come and carry all the sacred things to the next place where you Israelis will set up your tents. But the descendants of Kohath must not touch any of these sacred items, because they will immediately die if they touch them. They are the ones who will carry these things, but they must not touch them.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

In Context

14Then they must spread on top of the cloth all the items used at the altar—the pans for carrying the hot coals, the meat forks, the shovels, the bowls for containing the blood to sprinkle on the people, and all the other containers. Then they must spread over all those things a nice covering made from the skins of goats. Then they must insert into the rings at the sides of the altar the poles for carrying it.

16“Aaron’s son Eleazar will have the work of taking care of the olive oil for the lamps, the nice-smelling incense, the grain which will be burned on the altar each day, and the olive oil for anointing the priests. Eleazar is the one who will supervise the work that is done at the Sacred Tent and the men who take care of everything that is in it.”

Read all of Numbers 4

Cross References

Exodus 19:12You must make a boundary around the base of the mountain, and tell them, ‘Be sure that you do not climb the mountain or even go near it. Anyone who even touches the base of the mountain must be executed.’

Numbers 1:51Whenever it is time for all of you to move to another location, the descendants of Levi are the ones who must dismantle the tent. And when it is time to stop traveling, they are the ones who must set up the Sacred Tent again. Any other person who goes near the Sacred Tent to do this work must be executed.

Numbers 3:31The work of the men of those clans was to take care of the sacred chest, the table on which the priest put the sacred bread, the lampstand, the altars, all the items that the priest used in the Sacred Tent, and the curtain that is inside the tent. Their work was also to take care of the things inside the tent.

Numbers 7:9But he/I did not give any carts or oxen to the descendants of Kohath, because they took care of the sacred items that were to be carried on their shoulders, not on carts.

Numbers 18:3But while they do that work, they must not go near the sacred items inside the tent or near the altar. If they do that, they will die, and you will die, too!

Joshua 4:10The priests who carried the chest remained standing in the middle of the Jordan riverbed until the people had finished doing everything that Yahweh had commanded Joshua to tell them to do. Those were the same instructions that Moses had given to Joshua. The Israeli people crossed the riverbed quickly.

Matthew Henry on Numbers 4:2-21

The Office of the Levites. ( b. c. 1490.) 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers, 3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. 4 This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things: 5 And when the camp setteth forward,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Numbers 4:15