“You shall take the Levites for me — I am Yahweh — instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.”
Numbers 3:41 (WEB)
Context Reading
39All who were counted of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the commandment of Yahweh, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand. 40Yahweh said to Moses, “Count all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. 41You shall take the Levites for me — I am Yahweh — instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.” 42Moses counted, as Yahweh commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel. 43All the firstborn males according to the number of names from a month old and upward, of those who were counted of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.