Numbers 8

Chapter 8

The Seven Lamps

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you ¹mount the lamps, the seven lamps will ^agive light in the front of the lampstand.’ ”

³Aaron therefore did so; he ¹mounted its lamps at the front of the lampstand, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

^4aNow this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers it was hammered work; ^baccording to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Cleansing the Levites

⁵Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and ^acleanse them.

⁷“Thus you shall do to them, for their ¹cleansing: sprinkle ²purifying ^awater on them, and let them ^3buse a razor over their whole ⁴body and ^cwash their clothes, and they will be clean.

⁸“Then let them take a ¹bull with ^aits grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and a second bull you shall take for a sin offering.

⁹“So ^ayou shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. ^bYou shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,

¹⁰and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel ^ashall lay their hands on the Levites.

¹¹“Aaron then shall ¹present the Levites before the Lord as a ^awave offering from the sons of Israel, that they may ²qualify to perform the service of the Lord.

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 the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

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

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“^aI 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 the Lord 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 the Lord. 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 the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement

²³Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

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

²⁵“But at the age of fifty years they shall ¹retire from service in the work and not work any more.

²⁶“They may, however, ¹assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, ^ato keep an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall deal with the Levites concerning their obligations.”