Numbers 18:8–24

Offerings for Priests and Levites

Then 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,^a your perpetual share.^b You are to have the part of the most holy offerings^c that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain^d or sin^e or guilt offerings,^f that part belongs to you and your sons. Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it.^g You must regard it as holy.^h

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

“I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain^l they give the Lord^m as the firstfruits of their harvest.ⁿ All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours.^o Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.^p

“Everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord^q is yours. The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours.^r But you must redeem^s every firstborn^t son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.^u When they are a month old,^v you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels^w of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel,^x which weighs twenty gerahs.^y

“But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy.^z Splash their blood^a against the altar and burn their fat^b as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.^c Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering^d and the right thigh are yours.^e Whatever is set aside from the holy^f 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^g before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”

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

“I give to the Levites all the tithes^j in Israel as their inheritance^k in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.^l 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.^m 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 ordinanceⁿ for the generations to come.^o They will receive no inheritance^p among the Israelites.^q Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord.^r That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’ ”