14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be nmine. 15 And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering. 16 For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; oinstead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. 17 pFor all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. 18 And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel. 19 And qI have given the Levites as †a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: rthat there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.