< Numbers 8 >
1 And the Lord said to Moses,
And Yahweh spake unto Moses saying:
2 Say to Aaron, When you put the lights in their places, the seven lights will give light in front of the support.
Speak unto Aaron, and thou shalt say unto him, —When thou lightest up the lamps, over against the front of the lampstand, shall the seven lamps give light.
3 And Aaron did so; he put the lights in their places so that they gave light in front of the support, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.
And Aaron did so, over against the front of the lampstand, lighted he up the lamps thereof, —As Yahweh commanded Moses,
4 The support for the lights was of hammered gold work, from its base to its flowers it was of hammered work; from the design which the Lord had given to Moses, he made the support for the lights.
Now, this, was the work of the lampstand—beaten work of gold both in the shaft thereof and in the flowers thereof, was it beaten work, according to the appearance which Yahweh caused to appear unto Moses, so, made he the lampstand.
5 And the Lord said to Moses,
And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying:
6 Take the Levites out from among the children of Israel and make them clean.
Take the Levites, out of the midst of the sons of Israel, —and thou shalt purify them.
7 And this is how you are to make them clean: let the holy water which takes away sin be put on them, and let the hair all over their bodies be cut off with a sharp blade, and let their clothing be washed and their bodies made clean.
And, thus, shalt thou do unto them, to purify them, sprinkle upon them sin-cleansing water, —then shall they, cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and shall wash their clothes and so make themselves pure.
8 Then let them take a young ox and its meal offering, crushed grain mixed with oil, and take another ox for a sin-offering.
Then shall they take a choice young bullock, with the meal-offering thereof even fine meal overflowed with oil, —and a second choice young bullock, shalt thou take. as a sin-bearer.
9 And make the Levites come forward in front of the Tent of meeting, and let all the children of Israel come together:
Then shalt thou bring the Levites near, before the tent of meeting, —and shalt call together all the assembly of the sons of Israel;
10 And you are to take the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel are to put their hands on them:
and shalt bring the Levites near before Yahweh, —and the sons of Israel shall lean their hands upon the Levites;
11 And Aaron is to give the Levites to the Lord as a wave offering from the children of Israel, so that they may do the Lord's work.
and Aaron shall offer the Levites as a wave-offering before Yahweh, from among the sons of Israel, —so shall they be for performing the laborious work of Yahweh.
12 And the Levites are to put their hands on the heads of the oxen, and one of the oxen is to be offered for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to the Lord to take away the sin of the Levites.
And, the Levites, shall lean their hands upon the head of the bullocks; then make thou of the one a sin-bearer and of the other an ascending-sacrifice unto Yahweh, to put a propitiatory-covering over the Levites.
13 Then the Levites are to be put before Aaron and his sons, to be offered as a wave offering to the Lord.
Thus shalt thou cause the Levites to stand before Aaron and before his sons, —thus shalt thou offer them as a wave-offering unto Yahweh;
14 So you are to make the Levites separate from the children of Israel, and the Levites will be mine.
thus shalt thou separate the Levites out of the midst of the sons of Israel, —thus shall the Levites become mine.
15 After that, the Levites will go in to do whatever has to be done in the Tent of meeting; you are to make them clean and give them as a wave offering.
And after that, shall the Levites enter to do the labour of the tent of meeting, —so shalt thou purify them, and offer them as a wave-offering,
16 For they have been given to me from among the children of Israel; in place of every mother's first son, the first to come to birth in Israel, I have taken them for myself.
For, given, given, they are unto me, out of the midst of the sons of Israel, —instead of every firstborn that a mother beareth from among the sons of Israel, have I taken them unto me.
17 For every mother's first son among the children of Israel is mine, the first male birth of man or beast: on the day when I sent death on all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I made them mine.
For mine, is every firstborn among the sons of Israel, among men and among beasts, —on the day when I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, did I hallow them unto me.
18 And in place of the first sons among the children of Israel, I have taken the Levites.
Therefore have I taken the Levites, —instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel;
19 And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place.
therefore have I given the Levites as a gift unto Aaron and unto his sons, out of the midst of the sons of Israel, to do the laborious work of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to put a propitiatory-covering over the sons of Israel, —so shall there be among the sons of Israel, no plague, by the coming nigh of the sons of Israel unto the sanctuary.
20 All these things Moses and Aaron and the children of Israel did to the Levites; as the Lord gave orders to Moses about the Levites, so the children of Israel did.
And Moses and Aaron and all the assembly of the sons of Israel did thus unto the Levites, —according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses as touching the Levites, so, did the sons of Israel unto them.
21 And the Levites were made clean from sin, and their clothing was washed, and Aaron gave them for a wave offering before the Lord; and Aaron took away their sin and made them clean.
And the Levites accepted the cleansing from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave-offering before Yahweh, —and Aaron put a propitiatory-covering over them to make them pure.
22 And then the Levites went in to do their work in the Tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons: all the orders which the Lord had given Moses about the Levites were put into effect.
And after that, went the Levites in to do their laborious work in the tent of meeting, before Aaron and before his sons, —as Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so, did they unto them.
23 And the Lord said to Moses,
And Yahweh spake unto Moses saying;
24 This is the rule for the Levites: those of twenty-five years old and over are to go in and do the work of the Tent of meeting;
This is what concerneth the Levites, —from twenty-five years old and upwards, shall they enter to take rank in the host, for doing the laborious work of the tent of meeting;
25 But after they are fifty years old, they are to give up their work and do no more;
but from the age of fifty years, shall they retire from taking rank in the labour, and shall do laborious work no more;
26 But be with their brothers in the Tent of meeting, taking care of it but doing no work. This is what you are to do in connection with the Levites and their work.
yet shall they wait upon their brethren in the tent of meeting, by keeping charge, but laborious work, shall they not perform, —thus, shalt thou do unto the Levites, as touching their charges.