< Numbers 18 >

1 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, You and your sons and your father's house shall bear the sins of the holy things, and you and your sons shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
The LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
2 And take to yourself your brethren the tribe of Levi, the family of your father, and let them be joined to you, and let them minister to you; and you and your sons with you [shall minister] before the tabernacle of witness.
Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you; but you and your sons with you shall be before the Tent of the Testimony.
3 And they shall keep your charges, and the charges of the tabernacle; only they shall not approach the holy vessels and the altar, so both they and you shall not die.
They shall keep your commands and the duty of the whole Tent; only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they nor you.
4 And they shall be joined to you, and shall keep the charges of the tabernacle of witness, in all the services of the tabernacle; and a stranger shall not approach to you.
They shall be joined to you and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger shall not come near to you.
5 And you shall keep the charges of the holy things, and the charges of the altar, and [so] there shall not be anger amongst the children of Israel.
“You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.
6 And I have taken your brethren the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, a present given to the Lord, to minister in the services of the tabernacle of witness.
Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from amongst the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.
7 And you and your sons after you shall keep up your priestly ministration, according to the whole manner of the altar, and that which is within the veil; and you shall minister in the services as the office of your priesthood; and the stranger that comes near shall die.
You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You shall serve. I give you the service of the priesthood as a gift. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
8 And the Lord said to Aaron, And, behold, I have given you the charge of the first fruits of all things consecrated to me by the children of Israel; and I have given them to you as an honour, and to your sons after you for a perpetual ordinance.
The LORD spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel. I have given them to you by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.
9 And let this be to you from all the holy things that are consecrated [to me, even] the burnt offerings, from all their gifts, and from all their sacrifices, and from every trespass-offering of theirs, and from all their sin-offerings, whatever things they give to me of all their holy things, they shall be your and your sons'.
This shall be yours of the most holy things from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.
10 In the most holy place shall you eat them; every male shall eat them, you and your sons: they shall be holy to you.
You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.
11 And this shall be to you of the first fruits of their gifts, of all the wave-offerings of the children of Israel; to you have I given them and to your sons and your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance; every clean person in your house shall eat them.
“This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.
12 Every first-offering of oil, and every first-offering of wine, their first fruits of corn, whatever they may give to the Lord, to you have I given them.
“I have given to you all the best of the oil, all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to the LORD.
13 All the first fruits that are in their land, whatever they shall offer to the Lord, shall be your: every clean person in your house shall eat them.
The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.
14 Every devoted thing amongst the children of Israel shall be your.
“Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.
15 And every thing that opens the womb of all flesh, whatever they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be your: only the firstborn of men shall be surely redeemed, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean cattle.
Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to the LORD, both of man and animal, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.
16 And the redemption of them [shall be] from a month old; their valuation of five shekels—it is twenty oboli according to the holy shekel.
You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which weighs twenty gerahs.
17 But you shall not redeem the firstborn of calves and the firstborn of sheep and the firstborn of goats; they are holy: and you shall pour their blood upon the altar, and you shall offer the fat as a burnt offering for a smell of sweet savour to the Lord.
“But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD.
18 And the flesh shall be your, as also the breast of the wave-offering and as the right shoulder, it shall be your.
Their meat shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.
19 Every special offering of the holy things, whatever the children of Israel shall specially offer to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, for you and your seed after you.
All the wave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD to you and to your offspring with you.”
20 And the Lord said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion amongst them; for I [am] your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel.
The LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion amongst them. I am your portion and your inheritance amongst the children of Israel.
21 And, behold, I have given to the sons of Levi every tithe in Israel for an inheritance for their services, whenever they perform ministry in the tabernacle of witness.
“To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.
22 And the children of Israel shall no more draw near to the tabernacle of witness to incur fatal guilt.
Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.
23 And the Levite himself shall perform the service of the tabernacle of witness; and they shall bear their iniquities, it is a perpetual statute throughout their generations; and in the midst of the children of Israel they shall not receive an inheritance.
But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. Amongst the children of Israel, they shall have no inheritance.
24 Because I have given as a distinct portion to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the children of Israel, whatever they shall offer to the Lord; therefore I said to them, In the midst of the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them, ‘Amongst the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’”
25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
26 You shall also speak to the Levites, and shall say to them, If you take the tithe from the children of Israel, which I have given you from them for an inheritance, then shall you separate from it a heave-offering to the Lord, a tenth of the tenth.
“Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, ‘When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.
27 And your heave-offerings shall be reckoned to you as corn from the floor, and an offering from the wine-press.
Your wave offering shall be credited to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.
28 So shall you also separate them from all the offerings of the Lord out of all your tithes, whatever you shall receive from the children of Israel; and you shall give of them an offering to the Lord to Aaron the priest.
Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to the LORD of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give the LORD’s wave offering to Aaron the priest.
29 Of all your gifts you shall offer an offering to the Lord, and of every first-fruit the consecrated part from it.
Out of all your gifts, you shall offer every wave offering to the LORD, of all its best parts, even the holy part of it.’
30 And you shall say to them, When you shall offer the first fruits from it, then shall it be reckoned to the Levites as produce from the threshing floor, and as produce from the wine-press.
“Therefore you shall tell them, ‘When you heave its best from it, then it shall be credited to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the wine press.
31 And you shall eat it in any place, you and your families; for this is your reward for your services in the tabernacle of witness.
You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.
32 And you shall not bear sin by reason of it, for you shall have offered an offering of first fruits from it, and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you die not.
You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best. You shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.’”

< Numbers 18 >