Numbers 3:12
King James Version
“And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;”
Context
9And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.
10And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
11And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
12And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;
13Because all the firstborn mine; on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I the LORD.
14And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,
15Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.