39 So Moses and Aaron obeyed the Lord and counted the Levites by their clans. The total number of Levites at least one month old was 22,000.
40 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a list and count the first-born sons at least one month old in each of the Israelite families.
41 They belong to me, but I will accept the Levites as substitutes for them, and I will accept the Levites' livestock as substitutes for the Israelites' first-born livestock.”
42 Moses obeyed the Lord and counted the first-born sons;
43 there were 22,273 of them.
44 Then the Lord said,
45 “The Levites will belong to me and will take the place of the first-born sons; their livestock will take the place of the Israelites' first-born livestock.