NUMBERS 18

So Yehowah said to Aaron, You and your sons and your fathers' house with you shall bear the burden of iniquity against the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the burden of iniquity against your priesthood. 2 And your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring near to you, so that they may be joined with you, and may minister to you; but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the Testimony. 3 And they shall perform duties for you, and the duties of all the tent; but they shall not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, or else they will die, both they and you. 4 And they shall be joined with you, and perform the duties of the tent of meeting, in all the service of the tent; and no outsider shall come near you. 5 And you shall perform the duties of the sanctuary, and the duties of the altar, so that there may be no more anger against the sons of Israel. 6 And see, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are a gift to you, given to Yehowah, to do the service of the tent of meeting. 7 And you and your sons with you shall maintain your priesthood in all things of the altar, and for what is within the veil; and you shall serve. I have given you your priesthood in trust;* and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death. * lit a service of a gift

8 Then Yehowah said to Aaron, See now, I have put my reserved-offerings in your charge; from all the holy things of the sons of Israel, I have given them to you as a portion, and to your sons as a due for ever. 9 This shall be yours from the most holy things reserved from the fire: every gift of theirs, every grain-offering of theirs and every sin-offering of theirs and every guilt-offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and your sons. 10 You shall eat it in a most holy place; any male may eat it; it is holy to you. 11 And this also is yours: the reserved-offering of their gift, with all the offerings set aside by the sons of Israel; I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a fixed due for ever; anyone in your house who is clean may eat it. 12 A11 the best of the oil and all the best of the new wine and the grain, their first fruits which they give to Yehowah, I have given to you. 13 The first ripe fruits of all which is in their land, which they bring to Yehowah, shall be yours; any one in your house who is clean may eat it. 14 Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. 15 Of all flesh which they offer to Yehowah, everything which opens the womb, both man and beast, shall be yours; nevertheless, you must redeem the firstborn of man; while the firstborn of unclean animals you may redeem. 16 And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) according to your valuation shall be five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But 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 fling their blood against the altar and burn their fat as a fire-offering for an odour of rest to Yehowah; 18 but their flesh shall be yours, as the breast set aside and the right thigh are yours. 19 A11 the reserved-offerings of the holy things which the sons of Israel present to Yehowah I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a due for ever; it is a covenant of salt for ever before Yehowah, for you and your descendants with you.

20 And Yehowah said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. 21 And see, I have given to the sons of Levi all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, in return for the service which they render, the service of the tent of meeting. 22 And the sons of Israel shall no longer come near the tent of meeting, or else they will bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and shall bear iniquity for them; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. And they shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel. 24 I have given to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a reserved-offering to Yehowah; therefore I have told them that they shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.

25 And Yehowah spoke to Moses, and said, 26 Now you shall speak to the Levites, and say to them, When you take from the sons of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall take some of them as a reserved-offering for Yehowah, a tithe of the tithes. 27 And your reserved-offering shall be reckoned to you as though it is the corn of the threshing-floor and the full harvest of the winepress. 28 Thus you shall also take the reserved-offering for Yehowah from all your tithes which you receive from the sons of Israel; and you shall give some of it to Aaron the priest as a reserved-offering for Yehowah. 29 Out of all that is given to you, you shall take every reserved-offering for Yehowah, from all the best of it, the sanctified part of it. 30 And you shall say to them, When you take the best of it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing-floor and produce of the winepress; 31 and you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you will bear no sin through it, when you have taken the best from it; so you will not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, and you will not die.