THE BOOK OF NUMBERS

Numbers Chapter 18

1 ¶ And the LORD said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall be responsible for sins against the sanctuary: and you and your sons with you shall be responsible for sins involving your priesthood.

2 And also bring with you your brethren of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you, and minister to you: while you and your sons with you are before the tabernacle of witness.

3 And they shall attend to you, and all the duties of the tabernacle: but they shall not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, lest they, and you also, die.

4 And they shall join you, and attend to the duties of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the work of the tabernacle: and no outsider is to come near you.

5 And you shall discharge the duties of the sanctuary, and the duties of the altar: so that wrath may never again fall on the children of Israel.

6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift to the LORD, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.

7 Therefore you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for all that concerns the altar, and things within the veil; and you shall serve: I have given your priesthood to you as a gift: but any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

8 ¶ And the LORD spoke to Aaron, Behold, I have also put you in charge of my heave offerings all the holy things of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and to your sons, by reason of your anointing, as an ordinance forever.

9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of the people, all of their meal offerings, all of their sin offerings, and all of their trespass offerings, which they render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

10 You shall eat it in the most holy place; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy to you.

11 And this is yours also; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a statute forever: every one that is clean in your house shall eat of it.

12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of what they give to the LORD, them have I given to you.

13 And whatever is first ripe in the land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours; every one who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

14 Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.

15 Everything that opens the womb in all flesh, which they bring to the LORD, whether it is of men or beasts, shall be yours: nevertheless the firstborn of man must be redeemed, and the firstling of unclean beasts you shall redeem.

16 And those that are to be redeemed shall be redeemed at one month old, according to your estimate, for the price of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

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

18 And their flesh shall be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours.

19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, have I given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, by a statute forever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD to you and to your seed with you.

20 ¶ And the LORD spoke to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any part among them: I am your part and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance, for their service which they provide, namely the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.

22 Henceforth the children of Israel must not come near the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.

23 But the Levites shall do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they present as an offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said to them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

25 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

26 Thus speak to the Levites, and say to them, When you receive the tithes that I have given you from the children of Israel for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

27 And this your heave offering shall be counted to you, as though it were the corn of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

28 Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the LORD from all your tithes, which you receive from the children of Israel; and you shall give this heave offering for the LORD to Aaron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts you must present the entire offering due the LORD, the best part of all your gifts, even the sacred portion of it.

30 Therefore you shall say to them, When you have presented the best from it, then it shall be counted to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 And you and your households may eat it anywhere: for it is your reward for your work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

32 And you shall bear no sin because of it, once you have contributed from it the best of it: but you must not defile the holy things of the children of Israel, lest you die.