< 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, 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 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:
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 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:
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 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 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 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 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 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.
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 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 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 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.
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 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.
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 In the most holy place shalt thou eate it: euery male shall eate of it: it is holy vnto thee.
These offerings are very holy; every male must eat it, for they are holy to you.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 Euery thing separate from the common vse in Israel, shalbe thine.
Every devoted thing in Israel will be yours.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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 the flesh of them shalbe thine, as the shake breast, and as the right shoulder shalbe thine.
Their meat will be yours. Like the raised breast and the right thigh, their meat will be 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.
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 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 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 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.
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 Neyther shall the children of Israel any more come neere the Tabernacle of the Congregation, lest they susteine sinne, 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 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.
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 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.
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 the Lord spake vnto Moses, saying,
Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
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.
“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 heaue offering shalbe reckened vnto you, as the corne of the barne, or as the abundance of the wine presse.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 eate it in al places, ye, and your housholdes: for it is your wages for your seruice in the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
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 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.
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.'”