Numbers 8

1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

2 Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, then shall the seven lamps give light toward the body of the candlestick.

Say to Aaron, When you put the lights in their places, the seven lights will give light in front of the support.

3 And Aaron did so; toward the body of the candlestick did he light its lamps; as the Lord had commanded Moses.

And Aaron did so; he put the lights in their places so that they gave light in front of the support, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

4 And this was the workmanship of the candlestick: It was of beaten gold, from the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work; according unto the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so made he the candlestick.

The support for the lights was of hammered gold work, from its base to its flowers it was of hammered work; from the design which the Lord had given to Moses, he made the support for the lights.

5 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

6 Take the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

Take the Levites out from among the children of Israel and make them clean.

7 And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle upon them water of purification, after they have let the razor pass over all their flesh, and then let them wash their clothes, and so shall they be clean.

And this is how you are to make them clean: let the holy water which takes away sin be put on them, and let the hair all over their bodies be cut off with a sharp blade, and let their clothing be washed and their bodies made clean.

8 And they shall take a young bullock with his meat-offering, fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin-offering.

Then let them take a young ox and its meal offering, crushed grain mixed with oil, and take another ox for a sin-offering.

9 And thou shalt bring near the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt assemble together the whole congregation of the children of Israel.

And make the Levites come forward in front of the Tent of meeting, and let all the children of Israel come together:

10 And when thou hast brought near the Levites before the Lord, then shall the children of Israel lay their hands upon the Levites:

And you are to take the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel are to put their hands on them:

11 And Aaron shall make with the Levites a waving before the Lord from the children of Israel, that they may be ready to execute the service of the Lord.

And Aaron is to give the Levites to the Lord as a wave offering from the children of Israel, so that they may do the Lord's work.

12 And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt prepare the one as a sin-offering, and the other as a burnt-offering, unto the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites.

And the Levites are to put their hands on the heads of the oxen, and one of the oxen is to be offered for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to the Lord to take away the sin of the Levites.

13 And thou shalt place the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and make with them a waving before the Lord.

Then the Levites are to be put before Aaron and his sons, to be offered as a wave offering to the Lord.

14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine.

So you are to make the Levites separate from the children of Israel, and the Levites will be mine.

15 And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: after thou shalt have cleansed them, and made with them a waving.

After that, the Levites will go in to do whatever has to be done in the Tent of meeting; you are to make them clean and give them as a wave offering.

16 For they are wholly given unto me from the midst of the children of Israel: instead of every one that openeth the womb, of every first-born of the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.

For they have been given to me from among the children of Israel; in place of every mother's first son, the first to come to birth in Israel, I have taken them for myself.

17 For mine are all the first-born of the children of Israel, both of man and beast: on the day that I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt did I sanctify them unto myself.

For every mother's first son among the children of Israel is mine, the first male birth of man or beast: on the day when I sent death on all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I made them mine.

18 And I have taken the Levites, instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel.

And in place of the first sons among the children of Israel, I have taken the Levites.

19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from the midst of the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel; that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.

And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place.

20 And so did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the Levites: according unto all that the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.

All these things Moses and Aaron and the children of Israel did to the Levites; as the Lord gave orders to Moses about the Levites, so the children of Israel did.

21 And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron made with them a waving before the Lord: and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them.

And the Levites were made clean from sin, and their clothing was washed, and Aaron gave them for a wave offering before the Lord; and Aaron took away their sin and made them clean.

22 And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.

And then the Levites went in to do their work in the Tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons: all the orders which the Lord had given Moses about the Levites were put into effect.

23 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

24 This shall be the rule for the Levites: From twenty and five years old and upward shall he go into the ranks to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation;

This is the rule for the Levites: those of twenty-five years old and over are to go in and do the work of the Tent of meeting;

25 And from the age of fifty years shall he go out of the ranks of the service, and he shall serve no more;

But after they are fifty years old, they are to give up their work and do no more;

26 But he shall wait on his brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, but the service shall he not perform; thus shalt thou do unto the Levites in the discharge of their office.

But be with their brothers in the Tent of meeting, taking care of it but doing no work. This is what you are to do in connection with the Levites and their work.