Numbers 18

1Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.”

2And also bring near with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, your father's tribe, so that they may be joined to you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

3They shall keep your charge and the charge of the whole tent, but they shall not come near the vessels of the sanctuary or the altar, so that neither they nor you may die.

4They shall join you and keep the charge of the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, but no outsider shall come near you.

5And you shall keep charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar, so that there may no longer be wrath against the sons of Israel.

6And I—behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel, given to you as a gift, given to Yahweh, to perform the service of the tent of meeting.

7But you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and for what is within the veil, and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift of service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

8Then Yahweh spoke to Aaron: “And I, behold, I have given you the charge of my contributions, all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you as your anointing portion, and to your sons as a permanent statute.”

9This shall be yours from the most holy things, from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs, every sin offering of theirs, and every guilt offering of theirs, which they return to me. It is most holy for you and for your sons.

10You shall eat it in a most holy place; every male may eat it. It shall be holy to you.

11And this is yours: the contribution of their gifts, with all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent statute. Everyone in your house who is clean may eat it.

12All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine and grain—their firstfruits, which they give to Yahweh—I have given to you.

13The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to Yahweh shall be yours. Everyone in your house who is clean may eat it.

14Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

15Every firstborn that opens the womb, of all flesh that they present to Yahweh, whether man or beast, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you must surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you must redeem the firstborn of the unclean beast.

16And those to be redeemed from a month old, you shall redeem according to your valuation: five shekels of silver, by the sanctuary shekel; it is twenty gerahs.

17But you shall not redeem the firstborn of an ox, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and you shall burn their fat as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to Yahweh.

18But their flesh shall be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh shall be yours.

19All the contributions of the holy things that the sons of Israel lift up to the LORD I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent statute. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.

20And Yahweh said to Aaron, “In their land you shall not inherit, and no portion shall be yours among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.”

21And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given every tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for the service that they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.

22And the sons of Israel shall no longer come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.

23But the Levite himself shall serve the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It is a permanent statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance.

24For I have given to the Levites as an inheritance the tithe of the children of Israel, which they lift up to the LORD as a contribution; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’

25And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

26And to the Levites you shall speak and say to them: When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall present from it Yahweh’s contribution, a tithe from the tithe.

27And your contribution will be reckoned to you like grain from the threshing floor and like the fullness from the winepress.

28So you also shall present Yahweh’s contribution from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel, and from it you shall give Yahweh’s contribution to Aaron the priest.

29From all your gifts you shall lift up every offering of Yahweh; from all its best part, the holy portion from it.

30And you shall say to them, ‘When you lift up its best part from it, it shall be counted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress.’

31You and your household may eat it in any place, because it is your wages in return for your service in the tent of meeting.

32And you will bear no sin because of it when you lift up its best part from it. You shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, and you shall not die.