Numbers 8:12–26

¹²“Now ^athe Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³“And you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and before his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to Yahweh.

¹⁴“Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and ^athe Levites shall be Mine.

¹⁵“Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and ^apresent them as a wave offering;

¹⁶for they are ^awholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself ^binstead of every first issue of the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel.

¹⁷“For ^aevery firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the men and among the animals; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

¹⁸“But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

¹⁹“^aAnd I have given the Levites as ¹a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no ^bplague among the sons of Israel by ²their coming near to the sanctuary.”

²⁰Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel to the Levites; according to all that Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them.

^21aThe Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before Yahweh. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.

²²Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; just as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement of the Levites

²³Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“This is what applies to the Levites: from ^atwenty-five years old and upward ¹they shall enter to perform their duty in the service of the tent of meeting.

²⁵“But at the age of fifty years they shall ¹retire from their duty in the service and not serve anymore.

²⁶“They may, however, minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting ^ain order to keep up their responsibility, but they themselves shall perform no service. Thus you shall deal with the Levites concerning their responsibilities.”