Numbers 18

1

The LORD said to Aaron, "You, your sons and your father's family are

to bear the responsibilitiy for against the sanctuary, and you and

your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against

the priesthood.

2

Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you

and assist you when you and your sons minister before the

Tent of the Testimony.

3

They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties

of the Tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the

sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die.

4

They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the

Tent of Meeting - and no one else may come near where you are.

5

"You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the

altar, so that wrath will not fall on the Israeltes again.

6

I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites

as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the

Tent of Meeting.

7

But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection

with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving

you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who

comes near the sanctuary must be put to death."

8

Then the LORD said to Aaron, "I myself have put you in charge

of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings

the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your

portion and regular share.

9

You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is

kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most

holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part

belongs to you and your sons.

10

Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must

regard it as holy.

11

"This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the

wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons

and daughters as your regular share. Everyone in your household

who is ceremonially clean may eat it.

12

"I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and

grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.

13

All the land's firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will

be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean

may eat it.

14

"Everything in Israel that is devoted to the LORD is yours.

15

The first offspring of every womb, both man and animal,

that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem

every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean

animals.

16

When they are a month old, you must redeem them at

the redemption price set at five shekels of silver,

according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs

twenty gerahs.

17

"But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep

or a goat; they are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar

and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, an aroma

pleasing to the LORD.

18

Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave

offering and the right thigh are yours.

19

Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites

present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and

daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant

of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring."

20

The LORD said to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in

their land, nor will you have any share among them;

I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.

21

"I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance

in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting.

22

From now on the Israelites must not go near the Tent of

Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin

and will die.

23

It is the Levites who are to do the work at the Tent of

Meeting and bear the responsibility for offenses against it.

This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites.

24

Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes

that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD.

That is why I said concerning them: 'They will have no

inheritance among the Israelites.' "

25

The LORD said to Moses,

26

"Speak to the Levites and say to them: 'When you

receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your

inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe

as the LORD's offering.

27

Your offerings will be reckoned to you as grain from

the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.

28

Inthis way you also will present an offering to the LORD

from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From

these tithes you must give the LORD's portion to

Aaron the priest.

29

You must present as the LORD's portion the best and

holiest part of everything given to you.'

30

"Say to the Levites: 'When you present the best part,

it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing

floor or the winepress.

31

You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere,

for it is your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting.

32

By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty

in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings

of the Israelites, and you will not die.' "