Números 18

¹ And Yahweh said to Aaron, You and your sons and your fathers' house with you will bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you will bear the iniquity of your{+} priesthood.

² And your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, you bring near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you: but you and your sons with you will be before the tent of the testimony.

³ And they will keep your charge, and the charge of all the Tent: only they will not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they will not die, neither they, nor you{+}.

⁴ And they will be joined to you, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger will not come near to you{+}.

⁵ And you{+} will keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there will be no more wrath on the sons of Israel.

⁶ And I, look, I have taken your{+} brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel: to you{+} they are a gift, given to Yahweh, to do the service of the tent of meeting.

⁷ And you and your sons with you will keep your{+} priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that inside the veil; and you{+} will serve: I give you{+} the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger who comes near will be put to death.

⁸ And Yahweh spoke to Aaron, And I, look, I have given you the charge of my heave-offerings, even all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel; to you I have given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

⁹ This will be yours of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every oblation of theirs, even every meal-offering of theirs, and every sin-offering of theirs, and every trespass-offering of theirs, which they will render to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons.

¹⁰ As the most holy things you will eat of it; every male will eat of it: it will be holy to you.

¹¹ And this is yours: the heave-offering of their gift, even all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever; everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.

¹² All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to Yahweh, to you I have given them.

¹³ The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, will be yours; everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.

¹⁴ Everything devoted in Israel will be yours.

¹⁵ Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Yahweh, both of man and beast will be yours: nevertheless the firstborn of man you will surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you will redeem.

¹⁶ And those that are to be redeemed of them from a month old you will redeem, according to your estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs).

¹⁷ But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you will not redeem; they are holy: you will sprinkle their blood on the altar, and will burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor to Yahweh.

¹⁸ And the flesh of them will be yours, as the wave-breast and as the right thigh, it will be yours.

¹⁹ All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to Yahweh, I have given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your seed with you.

²⁰ And Yahweh said to Aaron, You will have no inheritance in their land, neither will you have any portion among them: I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

²¹ And to the sons of Levi, look, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting.

²² And from now on the sons of Israel will not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

²³ But the Levites will do the service of the tent of meeting, and they will bear their iniquity: it will be a statute forever throughout your{+} generations; and among the sons of Israel they will have no inheritance.

²⁴ For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they will have no inheritance.

²⁵ And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶ Moreover you will speak to the Levites, and say to them, When you{+} take of the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you{+} from them for your{+} inheritance, then you{+} will offer up a heave-offering of it for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.

²⁷ And your{+} heave-offering will be reckoned to you{+}, as though it were the grain of the threshing-floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.

²⁸ Thus you{+} also will offer a heave-offering to Yahweh of all your{+} tithes, which you{+} receive of the sons of Israel; and of it you{+} will give Yahweh's heave-offering to Aaron the priest.

²⁹ Out of all your{+} gifts you{+} will offer every heave-offering of Yahweh, of all its best, even its hallowed part out of it.

³⁰ Therefore you will say to them, When you{+} heave its best from it, then it will be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing-floor, and as the increase of the wine press.

³¹ And you{+} will eat it in every place, you{+} and your{+} households: for it is your{+} reward in return for your{+} service in the tent of meeting.

³² And you{+} will bear no sin by reason of it, when you{+} have heaved from it the best of it: and you{+} will not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, that you{+} will not die.