Numbers 18

1 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, You and your sons and your father's house shall bear the sins of the holy things, and you and your sons shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

And the Lord said to Aaron: Thou, and thy sons, and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the sins of your priesthood.

2 And take to yourself your brethren the tribe of Levi, the family of your father, and let them be joined to you, and let them minister to you; and you and your sons with you [shall minister] before the tabernacle of witness.

And take with thee thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, and the sceptre of thy father, and let them be ready in hand, and minister to thee: but thou and thy sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony.

3 And they shall keep your charges, and the charges of the tabernacle; only they shall not approach the holy vessels and the altar, so both they and you shall not die.

And the Levites shall watch to do thy commands, and about all the works of the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary nor the altar, lest both they die, and you also perish with them.

4 And they shall be joined to you, and shall keep the charges of the tabernacle of witness, in all the services of the tabernacle; and a stranger shall not approach to you.

But let them be with thee, and watch in the charge of the tabernacle, and in all the ceremonies thereof. A stranger shall not join himself with you.

5 And you shall keep the charges of the holy things, and the charges of the altar, and [so] there shall not be anger amongst the children of Israel.

Watch ye in the charge of the sanctuary, and in the ministry of the altar: lest indignation rise upon the children of Israel.

6 And I have taken your brethren the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, a present given to the Lord, to minister in the services of the tabernacle of witness.

I have given you your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel, and have delivered them for a gift to the Lord, to serve in the ministries of the tabernacle.

7 And you and your sons after you shall keep up your priestly ministration, according to the whole manner of the altar, and that which is within the veil; and you shall minister in the services as the office of your priesthood; and the stranger that comes near shall die.

But thou and thy sons look ye to the priesthood: and all things that pertain to the service of the altar, and that are within the veil, shall be executed by the priests. If any stranger shall approach, he shall be slain.

8 And the Lord said to Aaron, And, behold, I have given you the charge of the first fruits of all things consecrated to me by the children of Israel; and I have given them to you as an honour, and to your sons after you for a perpetual ordinance.

And the Lord said to Aaron: Behold I have given thee the charge of my firstfruits. All things that are sanctified by the children of Israel, I have delivered to thee and to thy sons for the priestly office, by everlasting ordinances.

9 And let this be to you from all the holy things that are consecrated [to me, even] the burnt offerings, from all their gifts, and from all their sacrifices, and from every trespass-offering of theirs, and from all their sin-offerings, whatever things they give to me of all their holy things, they shall be your and your sons'.

These therefore shalt thou take of the things that are sanctified, and are offered to the Lord. Every offering, and sacrifice, and whatsoever is rendered to me for sin and for trespass, and becometh holy of holies, shall be for thee and thy sons.

10 In the most holy place shall you eat them; every male shall eat them, you and your sons: they shall be holy to you.

Thou shalt eat it in the sanctuary: the males only shall eat thereof, because it is a consecrated thing to thee.

11 And this shall be to you of the first fruits of their gifts, of all the wave-offerings of the children of Israel; to you have I given them and to your sons and your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance; every clean person in your house shall eat them.

But the firstfruits, which the children of Israel shall vow and offer, I have given to thee, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters, by a perpetual law. He that is clean in thy house, shall eat them.

12 Every first-offering of oil, and every first-offering of wine, their first fruits of corn, whatever they may give to the Lord, to you have I given them.

All the best of the oil, and of the wine, and of the corn, whatsoever firstfruits they offer to the Lord, I have given them to thee.

13 All the first fruits that are in their land, whatever they shall offer to the Lord, shall be your: every clean person in your house shall eat them.

All the firstripe of the fruits, that the ground bringeth forth, and which are brought to the Lord, shall be for thy use: he that is clean in thy house, shall eat them.

14 Every devoted thing amongst the children of Israel shall be your.

Every thing that the children of Israel shall give by vow, shall be thine.

15 And every thing that opens the womb of all flesh, whatever they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be your: only the firstborn of men shall be surely redeemed, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean cattle.

Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed,

16 And the redemption of them [shall be] from a month old; their valuation of five shekels—it is twenty oboli according to the holy shekel.

And the redemption of it shall be after one month, for five sicles of silver, by the weight of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols.

17 But you shall not redeem the firstborn of calves and the firstborn of sheep and the firstborn of goats; they are holy: and you shall pour their blood upon the altar, and you shall offer the fat as a burnt offering for a smell of sweet savour to the Lord.

But the firstling of a cow and of a sheep and of a goat thou shalt not cause to be redeemed, because they are sanctified to the Lord. Their blood only thou shalt pour upon the altar, and their fat thou shalt burn for a most sweet odour to the Lord.

18 And the flesh shall be your, as also the breast of the wave-offering and as the right shoulder, it shall be your.

But the flesh shall fall to thy use, as the consecrated breast, and the right shoulder shall be thine.

19 Every special offering of the holy things, whatever the children of Israel shall specially offer to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, for you and your seed after you.

All the firstfruits of the sanctuary which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to thee and to thy sons and daughters, by a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, to thee and to thy sons.

20 And the Lord said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion amongst them; for I [am] your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel.

And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in their land, neither shall you have a portion among them: I am thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel.

21 And, behold, I have given to the sons of Levi every tithe in Israel for an inheritance for their services, whenever they perform ministry in the tabernacle of witness.

And I have given to the sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel for a possession for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant:

22 And the children of Israel shall no more draw near to the tabernacle of witness to incur fatal guilt.

That the children of Israel may not approach any more to the tabernacle, nor commit deadly sin,

23 And the Levite himself shall perform the service of the tabernacle of witness; and they shall bear their iniquities, it is a perpetual statute throughout their generations; and in the midst of the children of Israel they shall not receive an inheritance.

But only the sons of Levi may serve me in the tabernacle, and bear the sins of the people. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. They shall not possess any other thing,

24 Because I have given as a distinct portion to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the children of Israel, whatever they shall offer to the Lord; therefore I said to them, In the midst of the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

But be content with the oblation or tithes, which I have separated for their uses and necessities.

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

26 You shall also speak to the Levites, and shall say to them, If you take the tithe from the children of Israel, which I have given you from them for an inheritance, then shall you separate from it a heave-offering to the Lord, a tenth of the tenth.

Command the Levites, and declare unto them: When you shall receive of the children of Israel the tithes, which I have given you, offer the firstfruits of them to the Lord, that is to say, the tenth part of the tenth:

27 And your heave-offerings shall be reckoned to you as corn from the floor, and an offering from the wine-press.

That it may be reckoned to you as an oblation of firstfruits, as well of the barnfloors as of the winepresses:

28 So shall you also separate them from all the offerings of the Lord out of all your tithes, whatever you shall receive from the children of Israel; and you shall give of them an offering to the Lord to Aaron the priest.

And of all the things of which you receive tithes, offer the firstfruits to the Lord, and give them to Aaron the priest.

29 Of all your gifts you shall offer an offering to the Lord, and of every first-fruit the consecrated part from it.

All the things that you shall offer of the tithes, and shall separate for the gifts of the Lord, shall be the best and choicest things.

30 And you shall say to them, When you shall offer the first fruits from it, then shall it be reckoned to the Levites as produce from the threshing floor, and as produce from the wine-press.

And thou shalt say to them: If you offer all the goodly and the better things of the tithes, it shall be reckoned to you as if you had given the firstfruits of the barnfloor and the winepress:

31 And you shall eat it in any place, you and your families; for this is your reward for your services in the tabernacle of witness.

And you shall eat them in all your places, both you and your families: because it is your reward for the ministry, wherewith you serve in the tabernacle of the testimony.

32 And you shall not bear sin by reason of it, for you shall have offered an offering of first fruits from it, and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you die not.

And you shall not sin in this point, by reserving the choicest and fat things to yourselves, lest you profane the oblations of the children of Israel, and die.