Numbers 18:21–32

²¹“Now to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the ^atithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.

²²“^aAnd the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die.

²³“Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall ^abear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel ^bthey shall have no inheritance.

²⁴“For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they raise up as a contribution offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘^aThey shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”

²⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶“Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel ^athe tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall raise up a contribution offering from it to Yahweh, a ^btithe of the tithe.

²⁷‘And your contribution offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat.

²⁸‘So you shall also raise up a contribution offering to Yahweh from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the contribution offering of Yahweh to Aaron the priest.

²⁹‘Out of all your gifts you shall raise up every contribution offering due to Yahweh, from all the ¹best of them, ²the sacred part from them.’

³⁰“And you shall say to them, ‘When you have raised up from it the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the wine vat.

³¹‘And you may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting.

³²‘And you will bear no sin by reason of it when you have raised up the ¹best of it. But you shall not ^aprofane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, so that you will not die.’”