Numbers 8

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

² 'Speak to Aaron and say, "When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps must throw their light towardsthe front of the lamp-stand." '

³ Aaron did this. He set up the lamps to the front of the lamp-stand, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

⁴ This lamp-stand was worked in beaten gold, including its stem and its petals, which were also ofbeaten gold. This lamp-stand had been made according to the pattern Yahweh had shown to Moses.

⁵ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

⁶ 'Separate the Levites from the Israelites and purify them.

⁷ This is how you must purify them: you wil sprinkle them with purifying water, and they wil shave theirbodies al over and wash their clothes. They will then be clean.

⁸ They wil then take a young bul , with the accompanying cereal offering of fine flour mixed with oil, andyou wil take a second young bull for a sacrifice for sin.

⁹ You wil then bring the Levites in front of the Tent of Meeting, and assemble the whole community ofIsraelites.

¹⁰ Once you have brought the Levites before Yahweh, the Israelites wil lay their hands on them.

¹¹ Aaron wil then offer the Levites, making the gesture of offering before Yahweh on behalf of theIsraelites, admitting them to Yahweh's service.

¹² 'The Levites will then lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, one of which you wil offer as asacrifice for sin, and the other as a burnt offering to Yahweh, to perform the rite of expiation for the Levites.

¹³ Having brought the Levites before Aaron and his sons, you wil present them to Yahweh with thegesture of offering.

¹⁴ That is how you wil set the Levites apart from the Israelites, for them to be mine.

¹⁵ The Levites wil then begin their ministry in the Tent of Meeting. 'You wil purify them and offer themwith the gesture of offering

¹⁶ because, of the Israelites, they have been dedicated to me in place of al those who first emerge fromthe womb, instead of the first-born; of al the Israelites, I have taken them for my own.

¹⁷ For al the first-born of the Israelites, whether human or animal, do indeed belong to me: the day Istruck down al the first-born in Egypt, I consecrated them to myself,

¹⁸ and now, in place of al the first-born of the Israelites, I have taken the Levites.

¹⁹ Of the Israelites, I give the Levites to Aaron and his sons, as dedicated men, to minister in the Tent ofMeeting on behalf of the Israelites and perform the rite of expiation for them, so that no disaster befal s theIsraelites when the Israelites come close to the sanctuary.'

²⁰ Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israelites dealt with the Levites exactly as Yahweh hadordered Moses concerning them; this is what the Israelites did with them.

²¹ The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them with thegesture of offering before Yahweh. He then performed the rite of expiation for them to purify them.

²² The Levites were then al owed to perform their ministry in the Tent of Meeting in the presence ofAaron and his sons. As Yahweh had ordered Moses concerning the Levites, so it was done with them.

²³ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

²⁴ 'This concerns the Levites. From the age of twenty-five onwards, the Levite will exercise his ministryand do duty in the Tent of Meeting.

²⁵ After the age of fifty, he is no longer bound to the ministry; he wil have no further duties;

²⁶ but he will stil help his brothers to assure the services in the Tent of Meeting, though he himself willno longer have any ministry. That is how you wil act as regards the ministry of the Levites.'