17 Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron saying,
18 “You are not to let the families of the tribe of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites.
19 Do this for them so that they may live and not die whenever they approach the most holy items–-Aaron and his sons are to go into the Sanctuary and assign each man his job and his responsibility.
20 But the Kohathites are not to go in to look at what is holy, not even momentarily, or they will die.”
21 Again Adonai spoke to Moses saying,
22 “Take a census also of the sons of Gershon, by their ancestral households and by their families.
23 Count all the males from 30 to 50 years of age, everyone coming to work in the service of the Tent of Meeting.