39 The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to count all the men and boys one month old or older in Levi’s family group. The total number was 22,000.
40 The Lord said to Moses, “Count all the firstborn men and boys in Israel who are at least one month old. Write their names on a list.
41 I am the Lord. I will take the Levites instead of all the firstborn men and boys of Israel. I will also take the animals from the Levites instead of taking all the firstborn animals from the other people in Israel.”
42 So Moses did what the Lord commanded. He counted all the firstborn children of the Israelites.
43 He listed all the firstborn men and boys who were one month old or older. There were 22,273 names on that list.
44 The Lord also said to Moses,
45 “I, the Lord, give this command: ‘Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn men from the other families of Israel. And I will take the animals of the Levites instead of the animals of the other people. The Levites are mine.