Numbers 18

Duties of Priests and Levites

18The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary,^d and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. ²Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister^e before the tent of the covenant law. ³They are to be responsible to you^f and are to perform all the duties of the tent,^g but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die.^{h 4}They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are.ⁱ

⁵“You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar,^j so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. ⁶I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you,^k dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting.^{l 7}But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain.^m I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift.ⁿ Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.^o”

Offerings for Priests and Levites

⁸Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion,^p your perpetual share.^{q 9}You are to have the part of the most holy offerings^r that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain^s or sin^at or guilt offerings,^u that part belongs to you and your sons. ¹⁰Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it.^v You must regard it as holy.^w

¹¹“This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings^x of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share.^y Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean^z may eat it.

¹²“I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain^a they give the Lord^b as the firstfruits of their harvest.^{c 13}All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours.^d Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.^e

¹⁴“Everything in Israel that is devoted^b to the Lord^f is yours. ¹⁵The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours.^g But you must redeem^h every firstbornⁱ son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.^{j 16}When they are a month old,^k you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels^cl of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel,^m which weighs twenty gerahs.ⁿ

¹⁷“But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy.^o Splash their blood^p against the altar and burn their fat^q as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.^{r 18}Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering^s and the right thigh are yours.^{t 19}Whatever is set aside from the holy^u offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt^v before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”

²⁰The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them;^w I am your share and your inheritance^x among the Israelites.

²¹“I give to the Levites all the tithes^y in Israel as their inheritance^z in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.^{a 22}From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.^{b 23}It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance^c for the generations to come.^d They will receive no inheritance^e among the Israelites.^{f 24}Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord.^g That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’ ”

²⁵The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶“Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you^h as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering.^{i 27}Your offering will be reckoned^j to you as grain from the threshing floor^k or juice from the winepress.^{l 28}In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes^m you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. ²⁹You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’

³⁰“Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.^{n 31}You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.^{o 32}By presenting the best part^p of it you will not be guilty in this matter;^q then you will not defile the holy offerings^r of the Israelites, and you will not die.’ ”