Numbers 8

1And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.’

3And Aaron did so: toward the front of the lampstand he set up its lamps, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

4This was the workmanship of the lampstand: hammered work of gold, from its base to its flower it was hammered work. According to the pattern that Yahweh had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

5And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

6Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and cleanse them.

7And thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle on them the water for purification from sin, and let them pass a razor over all their flesh, and wash their clothes, and so cleanse themselves.

8Then they shall take one young bull and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take a second young bull for a sin offering.

9Then you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting, and you shall assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel.

10You shall bring the Levites before Yahweh, and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.

11Aaron shall present the Levites as a wave offering before Yahweh from the sons of Israel, and they shall be to serve the service of Yahweh.

12Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites.

13And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and you shall present them as a wave offering to Yahweh.

14So you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

15And after that the Levites shall come to serve at the tent of meeting, and you shall cleanse them and wave them as a wave offering.

16For they are wholly given to me from among the sons of Israel; in place of everyone who opens the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel, I have taken them for myself.

17For every firstborn among the sons of Israel, among man and among beast, is mine. On the day I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them to myself.

18And I took the Levites in place of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

19And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to do the service of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the sons of Israel, so that there may not be a plague among the sons of Israel when the sons of Israel come near to the holy place.

20So Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites; so the sons of Israel did to them.

21And the Levites purified themselves and washed their garments, and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before Yahweh, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

22And after that the Levites came to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did for them.

23Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

24This is what pertains to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward, he shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting.

25And from fifty years old he shall withdraw from the service of the work and shall serve no more.

26But he may minister with his brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, but he shall do no service. Thus you shall do for the Levites in their duties.