The Census

The Lord spoke to Moses
in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai
on the first day of the second month of the second year
after the Israelites came out of Egypt.
He said:
"Take a census of the whole Israelite community
by their clans and families,
listing every man by name, one by one.
You and Aaron are to number by their divisions
all the men in Israel twenty years old or more
who are able to serve in the army."

The families of the tribe of Levi, however,

were not counted along with the others.

The Lord said to Moses in the Desert of Sinai,
"Count the Levites by their families and clans.
Count every male a month old or more."
So Moses counted them,
as he was commanded by the word of the Lord.

(Numbers 1:1-3, 47; 3:14-16)