Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel:
Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.
Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:
And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.