⁵The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them to the priest Aaron to assist him. ⁷They are to perform duties for him and the entire community before the tent of meeting by attending to the service of the tabernacle. ⁸They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting^f and perform duties for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle. ⁹Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been assigned exclusively to him from the Israelites.^g ¹⁰You are to appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out their priestly responsibilities, but any unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”^h

¹¹The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹²“See, I have taken the Levites from the Israelites in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb.ⁱ The Levites belong to me, ¹³because every firstborn belongs to me. At the time I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt,^a I consecrated every firstborn in Israel to myself, both man and animal. They are mine; I am the Lord.”^b

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Cross references

f Nm 1:50,53
g Nm 8:16,19,22; 18:6
h Nm 1:51; 3:38; 8:19; 18:7
i Ex 13:1–2; 32:26–29; Nm 3:6,12–13,40–43; 8:16–18; 18:1
a Ex 13:15–16
b Ex 3:14–16; 6:6–7; Nm 3:41,45