Numbers 18 - NKJV Bible Online

Numbers 18

Duties of Priests and Levites

Then the Lord said to Aaron: ^a“You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall ^bbear the ¹iniquity related to the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood. 2 Also bring with you your brethren of the ^atribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ^bjoined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the tabernacle of ¹witness. 3 They shall attend to your ¹needs and ^aall the needs of the tabernacle; ^bbut they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary and the altar, ^clest they die—they and you also. 4 They shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, for all the work of the tabernacle; ^abut an outsider shall not come near you. 5 And you shall attend to ^athe duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, ^bthat there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel. 6 Behold, I Myself have ^ataken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel; ^bthey are a gift to you, given by the Lord, to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. 7 Therefore ^ayou and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and ^bbehind the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a ^cgift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

Offerings for Support of the Priests

8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron: “Here, ^aI Myself have also given you ¹charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them ^bas a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every ^agrain offering and every ^bsin offering and every ^ctrespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. 10 ^aIn a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.
11 “This also is yours: ^athe heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. ^bEveryone who is ¹clean in your house may eat it.
12 ^a“All the ¹best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, ^btheir firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you. 13 Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, ^awhich they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
14 ^a“Every ¹devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
15 “Everything that first opens ^athe womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless ^bthe firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, ^aaccording to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is ^btwenty gerahs. 17 ^aBut the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. ^bYou shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. 18 And their flesh shall be yours, just as the ^awave¹ breast and the right thigh are yours.
19 “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; ^ait is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”
20 Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have ^ano inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; ^bI am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

Tithes for Support of the Levites

21 “Behold, ^aI have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as ¹an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, ^bthe work of the tabernacle of meeting. 22 ^aHereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, ^blest they bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites ¹as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

The Tithe of the Levites

25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, ^aa tenth of the tithe. 27 And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the ^athreshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. 29 Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord, from all the ¹best of them, the consecrated part of them.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. 31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^ayour ¹reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting. 32 And you shall ^abear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall not ^bprofane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.’ ”

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