Numbers 18
Duties of Priests and Levites
So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall abear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, band you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. 2 And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may ajoin you and bminister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3 They shall keep guard over you and aover the whole tent, bbut shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar clest they, and you, die. 4 They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, aand no outsider shall come near you. 5 And you shall akeep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, bthat there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. 6 aAnd behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. bThey are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. 7 And ayou and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and bthat is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and cany outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, aI have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you bas a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every asin offering of theirs and every bguilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. 10 In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. 11 This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the awave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to byou, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. cEveryone who is clean in your house may eat it. 12 aAll the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, bthe firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. 13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, awhich they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. bEveryone who is clean in your house may eat it. 14 aEvery devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. 15 aEverything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, bthe firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And their redemption price a(at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, bwhich is twenty gerahs. 17 aBut the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 But their flesh shall be yours, as athe breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. 19 aAll the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. bIt is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for 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 among them. aI am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.
21 a“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 aso that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, blest they bear sin and die. 23 But athe Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, band they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which athey present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance bamong the people of Israel.”
25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, aa tithe of the tithe. 27 aAnd your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord’s contribution to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, athen the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. 31 And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ayour reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you shall abear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not bprofane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
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