The Number and Duties of the Levites

31 Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses, in the day when the word of the Lord came to Moses on Mount Sinai. 2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the oldest, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests, on whom the holy oil was put, who were marked out as priests. 4 And Nadab and Abihu were put to death before the Lord when they made an offering of strange fire before the Lord, in the waste land of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar did the work of priests before Aaron their father. 5 And the Lord said to Moses, 6 Make the tribe of Levi come near, and put them before Aaron the priest, to be his helpers, 7 In order that they may be responsible to him and to all Israel for the care of the Tent of meeting, and to do the work of the House; 8 And they will have the care of all the vessels of the Tent of meeting, and will do for the children of Israel all the necessary work of the House. 9 Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; so that they may be his without question from among the children of Israel. 10 And give orders that Aaron and his sons are to keep their place as priests; any strange person who comes near is to be put to death. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 See, I have taken the Levites out of the children of Israel to be mine in place of the first sons of the children of Israel; 13 For all the first sons are mine; on the day when I put to death all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I took for myself every first male birth of man and beast. They are mine; I am the Lord.

14 And the Lord said to Moses in the waste land of Sinai, 15 Let all the children of Levi be numbered by their families and their fathers' houses; let every male of a month old and over be numbered. 16 So Moses did as the Lord said, numbering them as he had been ordered. 17 These were the sons of Levi by name: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. 18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon, by their families: Libni and Shimei. 19 And the sons of Kohath, by their families: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel. 20 And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites in the order of their fathers' houses. 21 From Gershon come the Libnites and the Shimeites; these are the families of the Gershonites. 22 Those who were numbered of them, the males from one month old and over, were seven thousand, five hundred. 23 The tents of the Gershonites are to be placed at the back of the House, to the west. 24 The chief of the Gershonites is Eliasaph, the son of Lael. 25 In the Tent of meeting, the Gershonites are to have the care of the House, and the Tent with its cover, and the veil for the door of the Tent of meeting, 26 And the hangings for the open space round the House and the altar, and the curtain for its doorway, and all the cords needed for its use. 27 From Kohath come the Amramites and the Izharites and the Hebronites and the Uzzielites; these are the families of the Kohathites. 28 Those who were numbered of them, the males from one month old and over, were eight thousand, six hundred, who were responsible for the care of the holy place. 29 The tents of the Kohathites are to be placed on the south side of the House. 30 Their chief is Elizaphan, the son of Uzziel. 31 In their care are the ark, and the table, and the lights, and the altars, and all the vessels used in the holy place, and the veil, and all they are used for. 32 Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, will be head over all the Levites and overseer of those responsible for the care of the holy place. 33 From Merari come the Mahlites and the Mushites; these are the families of Merari. 34 Those who were numbered of them, the males of a month old and over, were six thousand, two hundred. 35 The chief of the families of Merari was Zuriel, the son of Abihail: their tents are to be placed on the north side of the House. 36 And in their care are to be all the boards of the Tent, with their rods and pillars and bases, and all the instruments, and all they are used for, 37 And the pillars of the open space round it, with their bases and nails and cords. 38 And those whose tents are to be placed on the east side of the House in front of the Tent of meeting, looking to the dawn, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, who will do the work of the holy place for the children of Israel; and any strange person who comes near will be put to death. 39 All the Levites numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord, all the males of one month old and over numbered in the order of their families, were twenty-two thousand.

The Redemption of the Firstborn

40 And the Lord said to Moses, Let all the first male children be numbered, and take the number of their names. 41 And give to me the Levites (I am the Lord) in place of the first sons of the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of the first births among the cattle of the children of Israel. 42 So Moses had all the first sons among the children of Israel numbered, as the Lord said to him. 43 Every first son from a month old and over was numbered by name, and the number came to twenty-two thousand, two hundred and seventy-three. 44 And the Lord said to Moses, 45 Take the Levites in place of all the first sons of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle; the Levites are to be mine; I am the Lord. 46 And the price you have to give for the two hundred and seventy-three first sons of the children of Israel which are in addition to the number of the Levites, 47 Will be five shekels for every one, by the scale of the holy place (the shekel is twenty gerahs); 48 And this money, the price of those over the number of the Levites, is to be given to Aaron and his sons. 49 So Moses took the money, the price of those whose place had not been taken by the Levites; 50 From the first sons of Israel he took it, a thousand, three hundred and sixty-five shekels, by the scale of the holy place; 51 And he gave the money to Aaron and his sons, as the Lord had said.

The Tasks Assigned to the Levites

41 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 Let the sons of Kohath, from among the sons of Levi, be numbered by their families, in the order of their fathers' houses; 3 All those from thirty to fifty years old who are able to do the work of the Tent of meeting. 4 And this is to be the work of the sons of Kohath in connection with the most holy things. 5 When all the people go forward, Aaron is to go in with his sons, and take down the veil of the curtain, covering the ark of witness with it; 6 And putting over it the leather cover and over that a blue cloth; and putting its rods in place. 7 And on the table of the holy bread they are to put a blue cloth, and on it all the vessels, the spoons and the basins and the cups; and the holy bread with them; 8 And over them they are to put a red cloth, covering it with a leather cover, and putting its rods in their places. 9 And they are to take a blue cloth, covering with it the light-support with its lights and its instruments and its trays and all the oil vessels which are used for it: 10 All these they are to put in a leather cover, and put it on the frame. 11 On the gold altar they are to put a blue cloth, covering it with a leather cover; and they are to put its rods in their places. 12 All the vessels which are used in the holy place they are to put in a blue cloth, covering them with a leather cover, and put them on the frame. 13 And they are to take away the burned waste from the altar, and put a purple cloth on it; 14 Placing on the cloth all its vessels, the fire-baskets, the meat-hooks, the spades, and the basins; all the vessels of the altar; they are to put a leather cover over all these, and put its rods in their places. 15 And after the holy place and all its vessels have been covered up by Aaron and his sons, when the tents of the people go forward, the sons of Kohath are to come and take it up; but the holy things may not be touched by them for fear of death. 16 And Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, is to be responsible for the oil for the light, and the sweet perfumes for burning, and the regular meal offering, and the holy oil; the House and the holy place and everything in it will be in his care. 17 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 18 Do not let the family of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites; 19 But do this to them, so that life and not death may be theirs when they come near the most holy things; let Aaron and his sons go in and give to every one his work and that which he is to take up; 20 But they themselves are not to go in to see the holy place, even for a minute, for fear of death.

21 And the Lord said to Moses, 22 Let the sons of Gershon be numbered by families, in the order of their fathers' houses; 23 All those from thirty to fifty years old who are able to do the work of the Tent of meeting. 24 This is to be the work of the Gershonites, the things they are to do and take up. 25 They are to take up the curtains of the House, and the Tent of meeting with its cover and the leather cover over it, and the hangings for the door of the Tent of meeting; 26 And the hangings for the open space round the House and the altar, and the curtain for its doorway, with the cords and all the things used for them; whatever is necessary for these, they are to do. 27 From the mouth of Aaron and his sons the Gershonites will have word about all the things they are to do and take up; you are to give them their orders. 28 This is the work of the family of the Gershonites in the Tent of meeting, and they will be under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. 29 The sons of Merari are to be numbered by families, in the order of their fathers' houses; 30 Every one from thirty to fifty years old who is able to do the work of the Tent of meeting. 31 And this is their part in the work of the Tent of meeting: the transport of the boards and the rods of the Tent, with the pillars and their bases; 32 And the pillars of the open space outside it, with their bases and their nails and cords and all the instruments used, and everything which has to be done there; all the instruments for which they are responsible are to be numbered by name. 33 This is the work which the sons of Merari are to do in connection with the Tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.

34 So Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the people took in hand the numbering of the sons of the Kohathites, by families, in the order of their fathers' houses; 35 Numbering all those from thirty to fifty years old who were able to do the work in the Tent of meeting; 36 And the number of all these was two thousand, seven hundred and fifty. 37 This is the number of those of the Kohathites who did the work in the Tent of meeting, as they were numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord. 38 And those of the sons of Gershon who were numbered by families, 39 All those from thirty to fifty years old who were able to do the work in the Tent of meeting, 40 Who were numbered by families in the order of their fathers' houses, were two thousand, six hundred and thirty. 41 This is the number of the sons of Gershon who did the work in the Tent of meeting, as they were numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord. 42 And those of the sons of Merari who were numbered by families, in the order of their fathers' houses, 43 All those from thirty to fifty years old who did the work in the Tent of meeting, 44 Who were numbered by families, were three thousand, two hundred. 45 This is the number of the sons of Merari, numbered by Moses and Aaron at the order of the Lord. 46 And all the Levites who were numbered by Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the people, by families, in the order of their fathers' houses, 47 Those from thirty to fifty years old who were able to do the work of the Tent of meeting and of its transport, 48 Came to eight thousand, five hundred and eighty. 49 At the order of the Lord they were numbered by Moses, every one in relation to his work and to his part in the transport; so they were numbered by Moses at the order of the Lord.

A Divided House Cannot Stand

20 And he went into a house. And the people came together again, so that they were not even able to take bread. 21 And when his friends had news of it, they went out to get him, saying, He is off his head.

22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem, said, He has Beelzebub, and, By the ruler of evil spirits he sends evil spirits out of men. 23 And turning to them, he said to them in the form of a story, How is it possible for Satan to put out Satan? 24 If there is division in a kingdom, that kingdom will come to destruction; 25 And if there is division in a house, that house will come to destruction; 26 And if Satan is at war with himself, and there is division in him, he will not keep his place but will come to an end. 27 But no one is able to go into the house of the strong man and take his goods, without first putting cords round the strong man, and then he will take his goods. 28 Truly, I say to you, The sons of men will have forgiveness for all their sins and for all the evil words they say: 29 But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but the evil he has done will be with him for ever: 30 Because they said, He has an unclean spirit.

Jesus' Mother and Brethren

31 And his mother and brothers came and were outside, and sent for him, requesting to see him. 32 And a great number were seated round him; and they said to him, See, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you. 33 And he said in answer, Who are my mother and my brothers? 34 And looking round at those who were seated about him, he said, See, my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God's pleasure, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Mark 3:20-35

Commentary on Mark 3:13-21

(Read Mark 3:13-21)

Christ calls whom he will; for his grace is his own. He had called the apostles to separate themselves from the crowd, and they came unto him. He now gave them power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. May the Lord send forth more and more of those who have been with him, and have learned of him to preach his gospel, to be instruments in his blessed work. Those whose hearts are enlarged in the work of God, can easily bear with what is inconvenient to themselves, and will rather lose a meal than an opportunity of doing good. Those who go on with zeal in the work of God, must expect hinderances, both from the hatred of enemies, and mistaken affections of friends, and need to guard against both.

Commentary on Mark 3:22-30

(Read Mark 3:22-30)

It was plain that the doctrine of Christ had a direct tendency to break the devil's power; and it was as plain, that casting of him out of the bodies of people, confirmed that doctrine; therefore Satan could not support such a design. Christ gave an awful warning against speaking such dangerous words. It is true the gospel promises, because Christ has purchased, forgiveness for the greatest sins and sinners; but by this sin, they would oppose the gifts of the Holy Ghost after Christ's ascension. Such is the enmity of the heart, that unconverted men pretend believers are doing Satan's work, when sinners are brought to repentance and newness of life.

Commentary on Mark 3:31-35

(Read Mark 3:31-35)

It is a great comfort to all true Christians, that they are dearer to Christ than mother, brother, or sister as such, merely as relations in the flesh would have been, even had they been holy. Blessed be God, this great and gracious privilege is ours even now; for though Christ's bodily presence cannot be enjoyed by us, his spiritual presence is not denied us.