Numbers 18

¹ Yahweh then said to Aaron: 'You, your sons and your ancestor's line with you wil be answerable foroffences against the sanctuary. You and your sons with you wil be answerable for the offences of yourpriesthood.

² You will admit your brothers of the branch of Levi, your ancestor's tribe, to join you and serve you,yourself and your sons, before the Tent of the Testimony.

³ They must be at your service and the service of the whole Tent. Provided they do not come near thesacred vessels or the altar, they wil be in no more danger of death than you.

⁴ They must join you, they must take charge of the Tent of Meeting for the entire ministry of the Tent,and no unauthorised person will come near you.

⁵ You will take charge of the sanctuary and charge of the altar, and retribution wil never again befallthe Israelites.

⁶ Of the Israelites, I myself have chosen your brothers the Levites as a gift to you. As men dedicated,they will belong to Yahweh, to serve at the Tent of Meeting.

⁷ You and your sons wil undertake the priestly duties in all that concerns the altar and all that liesbehind the curtain. You wil perform the liturgy, the duties of which I entrust to your priesthood. But anunauthorised person approaching wil incur death.'

⁸ Yahweh said to Aaron: 'I myself have put you in charge of everything set aside for me. Everythingconsecrated by the Israelites I give to you and your sons as your portion by perpetual decree.

⁹ Of the things especial y holy, of the food offered, this is what wil revert to you: every offering that theIsraelites give back to me, whether it be a cereal offering, a sacrifice for sin or a sacrifice of reparation, is a thingespecial y holy and will revert to you and your sons.

¹⁰ You wil eat the things especial y holy. Every male may eat them. You wil regard them as sacred.

¹¹ 'To you wil revert also whatever is set aside from the offerings of the Israelites, whatever is held outwith the gesture of offering; this I give to you and your sons and daughters, by perpetual decree. Al members ofyour household may eat it unless they are unclean.

¹² All the best of the oil, al the best of the new wine and wheat, these first-fruits offered by them toYahweh I give to you.

¹³ All the first produce of the country brought by them to Yahweh wil revert to you. Al members of your household may eat it unless they are unclean.

¹⁴ Everything in Israel put under the curse of destruction wil revert to you.

¹⁵ Every first-born of al creatures brought to Yahweh, human or animal, wil revert to you, but you willhave to redeem the first-born of man; you wil also redeem the first-born of an unclean animal.

¹⁶ You wil redeem it in the month in which it is born, valuing it at five shekels, at the sanctuary shekel,which is twenty gerah.

¹⁷ But you wil not redeem the first-born of cow, sheep and goat. They are holy: you wil sprinkle theirblood on the altar and burn the fat as food burnt to be a smel pleasing to Yahweh;

¹⁸ the meat wil revert to you, as wil the forequarter that has been presented with the gesture ofoffering, and the right thigh.

¹⁹ Everything the Israelites set aside for Yahweh from the holy things, I give to you and your sons anddaughters, by perpetual decree. This is a covenant of salt for ever before Yahweh, for you and your descendantstoo.'

²⁰ Yahweh said to Aaron: 'You will have no heritage in their country, you wil not have a portion likethem; I shal be your portion and your heritage among the Israelites.

²¹ 'Look, as heritage I give the Levites al the tithes col ected in Israel, in return for their services, forthe ministry they render in the Tent of Meeting.

²² The Israelites wil no longer approach the Tent of Meeting, on pain of committing a deadly sin.

²³ Levi will discharge the duties of the Tent of Meeting, and the Levites wil bear the consequences oftheir own guilt. This is a perpetual decree binding all your descendants: the Levites wil have no heritage amongthe Israelites,

²⁴ for the tithe which the Israelites set aside for Yahweh is the heritage I have given the Levites. This iswhy I have told them that they will have no heritage among the Israelites.'

²⁵ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

²⁶ 'Speak to the Levites and say: "When from the Israelites you receive the tithe which I have given youfrom them as your heritage, you wil set a portion of this aside for Yahweh: a tithe of the tithe.

²⁷ It wil take the place of the portion set aside that is due from you, like the wheat from the threshing-floor and new wine from the press.

²⁸ Thus you too wil set a portion aside for Yahweh out of all the tithes you receive from the Israelites.You will give what you have set aside for Yahweh to the priest Aaron.

²⁹ Out of all the gifts you receive, you will set a portion aside for Yahweh. Out of al these things, youwil set aside the best, the sacred portion."

³⁰ 'You wil say to them, "After you have set the best aside, the remainder wil take the place, in theLevites' case, of the produce of the threshing-floor and wine-press.

³¹ You may consume this anywhere, you and the members of your households; this is yourrecompense for serving in the Tent of Meeting,

³² and you wil not incur sin by doing so, once you have set aside the best; you wil not be profaningthe things consecrated by the Israelites and wil not incur death." '