Numbers 18
1 And the LORD said unto Aaron, You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and you and your sons with you 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 your brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring you with you, that they may be joined unto you, and minister unto you: but you and your sons with you shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
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 your charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor all of you also, die.
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 be joined unto you, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto 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 all of you shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be 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 they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service 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 Therefore you and your sons with you shall keep your priest's office for everything of the altar, and within the vail; and all of you shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that comes nigh 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 the LORD spoke unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given you the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto you have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, by an ordinance for ever.
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 your of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every food offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for you and for your 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 In the most holy place shall you eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto you.
These offerings are very holy; every male must eat it, for they are holy to you.
11 And this is yours; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in your 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 wine, and of the wheat, the first-fruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given you.
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 whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be yours; every one that is clean in your 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 thing devoted in Israel shall be yours.
Every devoted thing in Israel will be yours.
15 Every thing that opens the womb in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be yours: nevertheless the firstborn of man shall you surely redeem, and the first born of unclean beasts shall you redeem.
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 redeemed from a month old shall you redeem, according to your estimation, 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 first born of a cow, or the first born of a sheep, or the first born of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy: you shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto 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 shall be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours.
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 unto the LORD, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto you and to your seed with you.
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 spoke unto Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any part among them: I am your part and your 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, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of 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 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they 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 Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have 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 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no 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 spoke unto Moses, saying,
Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When all of you take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then all of you shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a 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 this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshing floor, and as the fullness 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 all of you also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which all of you receive of the children of Israel; and all of you shall give thereof the LORD'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 your gifts all of you shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.
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 you shall say unto them, When all of you have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase 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 all of you shall eat it in every place, all of you and your households: for it is your reward for your service 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 all of you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when all of you have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall all of you pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest all of you 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.'”
