Numbers 18–20

18TH CHAPTER

The Duties of the Levites and Priests

¹The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your family will be responsible for any sins against the holy place. You and your sons will also be responsible for any sins you commit when you work as priests. ²Bring the other Levites from your ancestor’s tribe to join you and help you and your sons serve in front of the tent of the words of my promise. ³They will work for you, doing whatever work is necessary for the whole tent. But they must not come near the altar or the furnishings in the holy place, or they will die, and you will die, too. ⁴They will join you and do whatever work is necessary for the tent of meeting, including all the maintenance work for the tent. But no one else may come near you. 

⁵“You must be in charge of the work done at the holy place and at the altar. Then I won’t show my anger against the Israelites again. ⁶I have chosen the other Levites from among the Israelites to help you. They are a gift given to the Lord to do whatever work is necessary at the tent of meeting. ⁷Only you and your sons may do the work of priests—everything done at the altar and under the canopy. This is my gift to you: You may serve me as priests. Anyone else who comes near ⸤the holy place to do this work⸥ must die.” 

Contributions for the Levites and Priests

⁸The Lord said to Aaron, “I am putting you in charge of all the contributions given to me. I am giving you and your descendants all the holy gifts from the Israelites as your share. These contributions will always be yours. ⁹That part of the most holy offerings which is not burned belongs to you. It may come from a grain offering, an offering for sin, or a guilt offering. Whatever is brought to me as a most holy offering will belong to you and your sons. ¹⁰Eat it in a most holy place. Any male may eat it. You must consider it holy. 

¹¹“The contributions that come as gifts taken from the offerings presented by the Israelites are also yours. I am giving these to you, your sons, and your daughters. They will always be yours. Anyone in your household who is clean^amay eat them. 

¹²“I am also giving you the first of the produce they give the Lord: the best of all the olive oil and the best of the new wine and fresh grain. ¹³The first of all produce harvested in their land that they bring to the Lord is yours. Anyone in your household who is clean may eat it. 

¹⁴“Anything in Israel that is claimed by the Lord is yours. ¹⁵Every firstborn male, human or animal, that is brought to the Lord is yours. But you must buy back every firstborn son and the firstborn male of any unclean animal. ¹⁶When they are one month old, you must buy them back at the fixed price of two ounces of silver, using the standard weight of the holy place. 

¹⁷“But you must never buy back a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat. They are holy. Throw the blood from these animals against the altar, and burn the fat as an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸But the meat is yours, like the breast and the right thigh that are presented. ¹⁹I am giving you, your sons, and your daughters all the holy contributions the Israelites bring to the Lord. These contributions will always be yours. It is an everlasting promise of salt in the Lord’s presence for you and your descendants.” 

²⁰The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no land or property of your own as the other Israelites will have. I am your possession and your property among the Israelites. 

²¹“I am giving the Levites one-tenth of every Israelite’s income. This is in return for the work they do at the tent of meeting. ²²The other Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting. Otherwise, they’ll suffer the consequences of their sin and die. ²³Only the Levites will do the work at the tent of meeting. They will be responsible for their own sins. This is a permanent law for future generations. They will own no property as the other Israelites will. ²⁴Instead, I will give the Levites what the Israelites contribute to the Lord—one-tenth of the Israelites’ income. This is why I said about them, ‘They will own no property as the other Israelites do.’ ” 

²⁵The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶“Speak to the Levites and say to them: You will take one-tenth of the Israelites’ income which I’m giving you as your property. When you do, you must contribute one-tenth of that income as your contribution to the Lord. ²⁷Your contribution will be considered to be grain from the threshing floor^bor juice from the winepress. ²⁸So you, too, will contribute one-tenth of your income to the Lord out of all that you receive from the Israelites’ income. You will give the Lord’s contribution to the priest Aaron. ²⁹Out of all the gifts you receive, you must contribute the best and holiest parts to the Lord. 

³⁰“Also tell them: When you contribute the best part, your contribution will be considered to be produce from the threshing floor or winepress. ³¹So you and your households may eat it anywhere, because it’s the wages you receive for your work at the tent of meeting. ³²When you contribute the best part, you won’t suffer the consequences of any sin. You won’t be dishonoring the holy offerings given by the Israelites, and you won’t die.” 

19TH CHAPTER

Water That Makes Israel Clean After Someone Dies

¹The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²“This is what the Lord’s teachings have commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red cow that is perfect, with no defects. Also, it must never have worn a yoke.^a3Give it to the priest Eleazar. It must be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴The priest Eleazar will take some of the blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. ⁵Then the entire cow (the skin, meat, blood, and excrement) will be burned while he watches. ⁶The priest will take some cedar wood, a hyssop sprig, and some red yarn and throw them onto the burning cow. ⁷The priest must then wash his clothes and his body. After that, he may go into the camp. But he will be unclean^buntil evening. ⁸The person who burned the calf must also wash his clothes and his body. He, too, will be unclean until evening. 

⁹“A man who is clean^cwill collect the ashes from the cow and put them in a clean place outside the camp. They will be kept by the community of Israel and used in the water that takes away uncleanness. The cow is an offering for sin. ¹⁰The person who collected the ashes from the cow must also wash his clothes. He will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent law for the Israelites and for the foreigners who live with them. 

¹¹“Whoever touches the dead body of any human being will be unclean for seven days. ¹²The unclean person must use this water on the third day and the seventh day to take away his sin. Then he will be clean. But if he doesn’t use this water on the third day and the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³Whoever touches the dead body of a human being and doesn’t use this water to take away his sin makes the Lord’s tent unclean. That person must be excluded from Israel, because the water that takes away uncleanness wasn’t sprinkled on him. He is unclean; his uncleanness stays with him. 

¹⁴“These are your instructions for when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who goes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵Every container without a lid fastened on it is unclean. 

¹⁶“Whoever is outdoors and touches someone who was killed or has died naturally or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave will be unclean for seven days. 

¹⁷“⸤This is what you must do⸥ for people who become unclean from touching a dead body. Put some of the ashes from the red cow that was burned as an offering for sin into a container. Then pour fresh water on them. ¹⁸A person who is clean will take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and all the people who were in the tent ⸤with the dead body⸥. He must also sprinkle any person who has touched a human bone or a grave and any person who has touched someone who has been killed or who has died naturally. ¹⁹A person who is clean will sprinkle these types of unclean people on the third day and the seventh day. On the seventh day the clean person will finish taking away their sins. Then they must wash their clothes and bodies, and in the evening they will be clean. ²⁰But if the person who becomes unclean doesn’t have his sin taken away, that person must be excluded from the assembly. He has made the holy place of the Lord unclean. The water to take away uncleanness wasn’t sprinkled on him. He is unclean. ²¹This will be a permanent law for them. 

“Whoever sprinkles the water to take away uncleanness must wash his clothes. And whoever touches this water will be unclean until evening. ²²Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.” 

20TH CHAPTER

Water from the Rock

¹In the first month the whole community of Israel came into the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. 

²Since the community was without water, they came together to confront Moses and Aaron. ³The people complained to Moses and said, “If only we had died when the other Israelites died in the Lord’s presence! ⁴Did you bring the Lord’s assembly into this desert just to have us and our animals die here? ⁵Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us into this terrible place? This is no place to plant crops. Even figs, grapes, and pomegranates won’t grow here. And there’s no water to drink!” 

⁶Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting. Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 

⁷The Lord said to Moses, ⁸“Take your staff, then you and your brother Aaron gather the community. Right before their eyes, tell the rock to give up its water. In this way you will…