Numbers 18

1 And the Lord sayd vnto Aaron, Thou, and thy sonnes and thy fathers house with thee, shall beare the iniquitie of the Sanctuarie: both thou and thy sonnes with thee shall beare the iniquitie of your Priestes office.

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 bring also with thee thy brethren of the tribe of Leui of ye familie of thy father, which shalbe ioyned with thee, and minister vnto thee: but thou, and thy sonnes with thee shall minister before the Tabernacle of the Testimonie:

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 keepe thy charge, euen the charge of all the Tabernacle: but they shall not come neere the instruments of the Sanctuary, nor to the altar, lest they die, both they and you:

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 shalbe ioyned with thee, and keepe the charge of the Tabernacle of the Congregation for all the seruice of the Tabernacle: and no stranger shall come neere vnto 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 Therefore shall ye keepe the charge of the Sanctuarie, and the charge of the altar: so there shall fall no more wrath vpon 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 For lo, I haue taken your brethren the Leuites from among the children of Israel, which as a gift of yours, are giuen vnto the Lord, to do the seruice of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

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 sonnes with thee shall keepe your Priestes office for all things of the altar, and within the vaile: therefore shall ye serue: for I haue made your Priestes office an office of seruice: therefore the stranger that cometh neere, shalbe slayne.

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 Againe the Lord spake vnto Aaron, Behold, I haue giuen thee the keeping of mine offrings, of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel: vnto thee I haue giuen them for the anoyntings sake, and to thy sonnes, for a perpetuall ordinance.

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 shalbe thine of the most holy things, reserued from the fire: all their offering of all their meate offring, and of all their sinne offring, and of all their trespasse offring, which they bring vnto me, that shalbe most holy vnto thee, and to thy sonnes.

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 In the most holy place shalt thou eate it: euery male shall eate of it: it is holy vnto 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 This also shalbe thine: the heaue offering of their gift, with all the shake offerings of the children of Israel: I haue giuen them vnto thee and to thy sonnes and to thy daughters with thee, to be a duetie for euer al the cleane in thine house shall eate 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 fat of the oyle, and all the fat of the wine, and of the wheate, which they shall offer vnto the Lord for their first fruites, I haue giuen them vnto 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 And the first ripe of al that is in their land, which they shall bring vnto Lord, shalbe thine: all the cleane in thine house shall eate 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 Euery thing separate from the common vse in Israel, shalbe thine.

“Everything in Israel that is set apart to belong to me also belongs to you.

15 All that first openeth the matrice of any flesh, which they shall offer vnto the Lord, of man or beast, shalbe thine: but the first borne of man shalt thou redeeme, and the first borne of the vncleane beast shalt thou redeeme.

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 bee redeemed, shalt thou redeeme from the age of a moneth, according to thy estimation, for the money of fiue shekels, after the shekel of the Sanctuarie, which is twentie 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 first borne of a kow, or the first borne of a sheepe, or the first borne of a goate shalt thou not redeeme: for they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood at the altar, and thou shalt burne their fat: it is a sacrifice made by fire for a sweete sauour vnto the Lord.

“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 the flesh of them shalbe thine, as the shake breast, and as the right shoulder shalbe 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 heaue offrings of the holy things which the children of Israel shall offer vnto the Lord, haue I giuen thee, and thy sonnes, and thy daughters with thee, to be a duetie for euer: it is a perpetual couenant of salt before the Lord, to thee, and to thy seede 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 the Lord sayde vnto Aaron, Thou shalt haue none inheritance in their lande, neyther shalt thou haue any parte among them: I am thy part 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 For beholde, I haue giuen the children of Leui all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their seruice which they serue in the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

“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 Neyther shall the children of Israel any more come neere the Tabernacle of the Congregation, lest they susteine sinne, 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 Leuites shall do the seruice in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and they shall beare their sinne: it is a law for euer in your generations, that among the children of Israel they possesse none 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 the tythes of the children of Israel, which they shall offer as an offring vnto the Lord, I haue giuen the Leuites for an inheritance: therfore I haue said vnto them, Among the children of Israel ye shall possesse none inheritance.

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 the Lord spake vnto Moses, saying,

Yahweh said to Moses/me,

26 Speake also vnto the Leuites and say vnto them, When ye shall take of the children of Israel the tithes, which I haue giuen you of them for your inheritance, then shall ye take an heaue offring of that same for the Lord, euen the tenth part 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 heaue offering shalbe reckened vnto you, as the corne of the barne, or as the abundance of the wine presse.

Just like the other Israelis give one tenth of the grain and wine that they produce,

28 So ye shall also offer an heaue offring vnto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye shall receiue of the children of Israel, and ye shall giue thereof the Lords heaue offring 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 Ye shall offer of all your gifts al the Lords heaue offrings: of all the fat of the same shall ye offer the holy things thereof.

Select the best parts of the things that are given to you to give them to me.’

30 Therefore thou shalt say vnto them, When ye haue offred the fat thereof, then it shalbe couted vnto the Leuites, as the encrease of the corne floore, or as the encrease of the wine presse.

“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 eate it in al places, ye, and your housholdes: for it is your wages for your seruice in the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

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 beare no sinne by the reason of it, when ye haue offred the fatte of it: neither shall ye pollute 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.’”