Numbers 18
1 And Jehovah 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 iniquity of your priesthood.
Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and the other members of your father’s family are the ones (who will be punished/whom I will punish) [if anything bad happens to the things] inside the Sacred Tent. But only you and your sons will be punished if the priests do something bad.
2 And thy brethren also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, that they may unite with thee, and minister unto thee; but thou and thy sons with thee [shall serve] before the tent of the testimony.
Require that those who belong to your tribe, the tribe of Levi, must assist you and your sons while you perform your work at the Sacred Tent.
3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of the whole tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they may not die, and you as well as they.
But while they do that work, they must not go near the sacred items inside the tent or near the altar. If they do that, they will die, and you will die, too!
4 And they shall unite with thee, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; and no stranger shall come near to you.
They may assist you in doing all the work to take care of the Sacred Tent, but no one else is permitted to come near the place where you are working.
5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there come no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
“You are the ones who will do the sacred work inside the Sacred Tent and at the altar. If you obey these instructions, I will not become very angry with the Israeli people again.
6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the children of Israel; to you are they given as a gift for Jehovah to perform the service of the tent of meeting.
I myself have chosen the descendants of Levi from the other Israelis in order that they may be your special helpers. They are like a gift that I have given you to work at the Sacred Tent.
7 But thou and thy sons with thee shall attend to your priesthood for all that concerneth the altar, and for that which is inside the veil; and ye shall perform the service: I give you your priesthood as a service of gift, and the stranger that cometh near shall be put to death.
But it is you and your sons, who are the priests, who must perform all the rituals concerning the altar and with what happens inside the Very Holy Place. I am giving to you this work of serving as priests. So anyone else who tries to do that work must be executed.”
8 And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, And I, behold, I have given thee the charge of my heave-offerings, of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; to thee have I given them, because of the anointing, and to thy sons by an everlasting statute.
Yahweh also said to Aaron, “I myself have appointed you to take care of all the sacred offerings that the Israeli people bring to me. I have given all these sacred offerings to you and to your sons. You and your descendants will get a share of these offerings permanently.
9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every offering of theirs, of all their oblations, and of all their sin-offerings, and of all their trespass-offerings, which they render unto me, it is most holy for thee and for thy sons.
The parts of the offerings that are not completely burned on the altar belong to you. Those parts of the sacred offerings, including the offerings of grain, the offerings for sins and for the people to be forgiven for not giving me what they are required to give, are set apart, and are to be given to you and your sons.
10 As most holy shalt thou eat it: every male shall eat it; it shall be holy unto thee.
You must eat those offerings in a sacred place, [near the Sacred Tent]. You and all of the other males [in your clan] may eat them, but you must consider those offerings to be holy/dedicated to me.
11 And this shall be thine: the heave-offering of their gift, with all the wave-offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by an everlasting statute; every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.
“The priests lift up high the sacred offerings while they are standing in front of the altar. All of those offerings that the Israelis offer to me belong to you and your sons and daughters. They will always be your share. All the members of your family who [have performed the rituals to cause them to] be acceptable to me are permitted to eat from these offerings.
12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they give to Jehovah, have I given thee.
“am [also] giving to you the first food that people harvest each year and bring to me—the best [olive] oil and new wine and grain.
13 The first ripe of everything that is in their land, which they shall bring to Jehovah, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.
All of the first crops that people harvest and bring to me belong to you. Anyone in your family who has [performed the ritual to] become acceptable to me is permitted to eat that food.
14 Every devoted thing in Israel shall be thine.
“Everything in Israel that is set apart to belong to me also belongs to you.
15 Everything that breaketh open the womb of all flesh, which they present to Jehovah, of men or of beasts, shall be thine; nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou in any case ransom, and the firstborn of unclean beasts shalt thou ransom.
The firstborn males, both humans and domestic animals, that are offered to me, will be yours. But people must buy back their firstborn sons and the firstborn animals that may not be used for sacrifices.
16 And those that are to be ransomed from a month old shalt thou ransom, according to thy valuation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
They must buy them back when they are one month old. The price that they must pay [for each one] is five pieces of silver. They must weigh the silver on the scales that are in the Sacred Tent.
17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, thou shalt not ransom: they are holy. Thou shalt sprinkle their blood on the altar, and their fat shalt thou burn as an offering by fire for a sweet odour to Jehovah.
“But they are not permitted to buy back the firstborn cattle or sheep or goats. They are holy and have been set apart for me. [Slaughter them and] sprinkle their blood on the altar. Then completely burn the fat of those animals [on the altar] to be an offering to me. The smell as they burn will be very pleasing to me.
18 And their flesh shall be thine; as the wave-breast and as the right shoulder shall it be thine.
The meat from those offerings will be yours, just like the breast and right thigh of animals that are presented to me to maintain fellowship with me as the priest lifts them up high in front of the altar are yours.
19 All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to Jehovah, have I given thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by an everlasting statute: it shall be an everlasting covenant of salt before Jehovah unto thee and thy seed with thee.
Anything that the Israeli people present to me as holy/sacred gifts, I am giving to you. They are for you and your sons and daughters [to eat]. They will always be your share. This is an agreement that I am making with you, an agreement that will (last forever/never be changed). I am also making this agreement with your descendants.”
20 And Jehovah said to Aaron, In their land thou shalt have no inheritance, neither shalt thou have any portion among them: I am thy portion and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
Yahweh also said to Aaron, “You priests will not receive any of the land or the property like the [other] Israeli people will receive. I am what you will receive.
21 And to the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.
“Then the Israeli people bring to me a tenth of all [the crops and of their newborn animals], I will give that to you descendants of Levi. That will be your payment for the work you do at the Sacred Tent.
22 Neither shall the children of Israel henceforth come near the tent of meeting, to bear sin and die.
The other Israelis must not go near that tent. If they go near it, [I will consider that their doing that is a sin, and] they will die for committing that sin.
23 But the Levite, he shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations. And among the children of Israel shall they possess no inheritance;
Only the descendants of Levi are permitted to work at the Sacred Tent, and they will be punished if anything bad happens to it. That is a law that will never be changed. You descendants of Levi will not receive any land among the other Israeli people,
24 for I have given for an inheritance to the Levites the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering to Jehovah; therefore I have said of them, They shall possess no inheritance among the children of Israel.
because I will give you one tenth of all the [crops and animals] that the Israelis bring to be offerings to me. That is why I said that you will not receive any land like the other Israelis will receive.”
25 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Yahweh said to Moses/me,
26 And to the Levites shalt thou speak, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer a heave-offering from it for Jehovah, the tenth of the tithe.
“Tell this to the descendants of Levi: ‘When you receive one tenth of all [the crops and animals] from the Israeli people, you must give one tenth of all that to me to be a sacred offering.
27 And your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you, as the corn from the threshing-floor, and as the fulness of the winepress.
Just like the other Israelis give one tenth of the grain and wine that they produce,
28 Thus ye also shall offer Jehovah's heave-offering of all your tithes, which ye take of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof Jehovah's heave-offering to Aaron the priest.
you must give to me one tenth of all that you receive from them. That will be your sacred offering to me. You must present it to Aaron.
29 Out of all that is given you ye shall offer the whole heave-offering of Jehovah, — of all the best thereof the hallowed part thereof.
Select the best parts of the things that are given to you to give them to me.’
30 And thou shalt say unto them, When ye heave the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as produce of the threshing-floor, and as produce of the winepress.
“Also, tell this to the descendants of Levi: ‘When you present those best portions of grain and wine as your offering to me, I will consider that those gifts are as though they came from your own grain fields and vineyards.
31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households; for it is your reward for your service in the tent of meeting.
You descendants of Levi and your families are permitted to eat [the rest of] that food, and you may eat it wherever [you want to], because it is your payment for the work that you do at the Sacred Tent.
32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, if ye heave from it the best of it; and ye shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.
If you give to the priests the best portions of what you receive, you will not be punished [by me] for accepting one tenth of the gifts that the people bring to me. But you must consider those gifts to be sacred/holy. If you sin [by eating those things in ways that are contrary to these regulations that I have given to you], you will be executed.’”
