18The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral family^Aⁱ will be responsible for iniquity against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for iniquity involving your priesthood. ²But also bring your relatives with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony.^j ³They are to perform duties for you and for the whole tent. They must not come near the sanctuary equipment or the altar; otherwise, both they and you will die. ⁴They are to join you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no unauthorized person may come near you.

⁵“You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.^k ⁶Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you, assigned by the Lord to work at the tent of meeting. ⁷But you and your sons will carry out your priestly responsibilities^l for everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the curtain, and you will do that work. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift,^B but an unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary will be put to death.”^m

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Footnotes

A the house of your father
BOr curtain. So you are to perform the service; a gift of your priesthood I grant

Cross references

i Nm 10:21
j Nm 8:5–26
k Nm 1:53; 16; 17:12–13; 1Ch 9:19; Ezk 44:11
l Nm 3:10
m Nm 1:51; 3:10,38