< 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, your sons, and your ancestor's clan will be responsible for all sins committed against the sanctuary. But only you and your sons with you will be responsible for all sins committed by anyone in the priesthood.
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.
As for your fellow members of the tribe of Levi, your ancestors' tribe, you must bring them with you so they may join you and help you when you and your sons serve in front of the tent of the covenant decrees.
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.
They must serve you and the whole tent. However, they must not come near to anything in the holy place or connected with the altar, or they and also you will die.
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 must join you and take care of the tent of meeting, for all the work connected with the tent. A foreigner must not come near you.
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 must take responsibility for the holy place and for the altar so that my anger does not come on the people of Israel 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.
Look, I myself have chosen your fellow members of the Levites from among the descendants of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to me to do the work connected to the tent of meeting.
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 only you and your sons may exercise the priesthood regarding everything connected with the altar and everything inside the curtain. You yourselves must fulfill those responsibilities. I am giving you the priesthood as a gift. Any foreigner who approaches must be put to death.”
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.
Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “Look, I have given you the duty of handling the offerings raised up to me, and all the holy offerings that the people of Israel give to me. I have given these offerings to you and your sons as your ongoing share.
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.
This will belong to you from the most holy things that is kept from the fire. From every offering of theirs—every grain offering, every sin offering, and every guilt offering—they are set apart to you and to your sons.
10 As most holy shalt thou eat it: every male shall eat it; it shall be holy unto thee.
These offerings are very holy; every male must eat it, for they are holy to you.
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.
These are the offerings that will belong to you, set apart out of all their gifts of the wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to you, your sons, and your daughters, as your portion forever. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your family may eat any of 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.
All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and grain, the firstfruits that the people give to me—all these things I have given to you.
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.
The first ripe produce of all that is in their land, which they bring to me, will be yours. Everyone who is clean in your family may eat these things.
14 Every devoted thing in Israel shall be thine.
Every devoted thing in Israel will be yours.
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.
Everything that opens the womb, all the firstborn which the people offer to Yahweh, both of man and animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the people must certainly buy back every firstborn son, and they must buy back the firstborn male of unclean animals.
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.
Those that are to be bought back by the people must be bought back after becoming one month old. Then the people may buy them back, for the price of five shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs.
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 the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat—you must not buy back these animals; they are set apart to me. You must sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to Yahweh.
18 And their flesh shall be thine; as the wave-breast and as the right shoulder shall it be thine.
Their meat will be yours. Like the raised breast and the right thigh, their meat will be 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.
All the holy offerings that the people of Israel present to Yahweh, I have given to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a continual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt, a binding covenant forever, before Yahweh for both you and your descendants with you.”
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 said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in the people's land, nor will you have any share of property among the people. I am your share and inheritance among the people of Israel.
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.
To the descendants of Levi, look, I have given all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the service that they provide in working at the tent of meeting.
22 Neither shall the children of Israel henceforth come near the tent of meeting, to bear sin and die.
From now on the people of Israel must not come near the tent of meeting, or they will be responsible for this sin and die.
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;
The Levites must do the work connected to the tent of meeting. They will be responsible for any sin regarding it. This will be a permanent law throughout your people's generations. Among the people of Israel they must have no inheritance.
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.
For the tithes of the people of Israel, which they offer as a contribution to me—it is these that I have given to the Levites as their inheritance. That is why I said to them, 'They must have no inheritance among the people of Israel.'”
25 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
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.
“You must speak to the Levites and say to them, 'When you receive from the people of Israel the tenth that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, you will present a contribution from it to Yahweh, a tenth of the tithe.
27 And your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you, as the corn from the threshing-floor, and as the fulness of the winepress.
Your contribution must be considered by you as if it were a tenth of the grain from the threshing floor or of the production from the winepress.
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.
So you also must make a contribution to Yahweh from all the tithes that you receive from the people of Israel. From them you must give his contribution to Aaron the priest.
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.
Out of all the gifts you receive, you must make every contribution to Yahweh. You must do this from all the best and the holiest things that have been given to you.'
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.
Therefore you must say to them, 'When you present the best of it, then it must be credited to the Levites as the product from the threshing floor and the winepress.
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 may eat the rest of your gifts in any place, you and your families, because it is your pay in return for your work in the tent of meeting.
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.
You will not incur any guilt by eating and drinking it, if you have presented to Yahweh the best of what you have received. But you must not profane the holy offerings of the people of Israel, or you will die.'”