Numbers 8

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

2 “Speak to Aaron, and you have said to him: In your causing the lights to go up, the seven lights give light toward the front of the face of the lampstand.”

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 does so; he has caused its lights to go up toward the front of the face of the lampstand, as YHWH has 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 [is] the work of the lampstand: beaten work of gold; from its thigh to its flower it [is] beaten work; as the appearance which YHWH showed Moses, so he has made the lampstand.

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 YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

6 “Take the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, and you have cleansed them.

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

7 And thus you do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle waters of atonement on them, and they have caused a razor to pass over all their flesh, and have washed their garments, and cleansed themselves,

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 have taken a bullock, a son of the herd, and its present, flour mixed with oil, and you take a second bullock, a son of the herd, 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 you have brought the Levites near before the Tent of Meeting, and you have assembled all the congregation of the sons 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 you have brought the Levites near before YHWH, and the sons of Israel have laid their hands on 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 has waved the Levites [as] a wave-offering before YHWH, from the sons of Israel, and they have been [consecrated] for doing the service of YHWH.

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 lay their hands on the head of the bullocks, and make one a sin-offering and one a burnt-offering to YHWH, to atone 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 you have caused the Levites to stand before Aaron, and before his sons, and have waved them [as] a wave-offering to YHWH;

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

14 and you have separated the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, and the Levites have become Mine;

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

15 and afterward the Levites come in to serve the Tent of Meeting, and you have cleansed them, and have waved them [as] a wave-offering.

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 certainly given to Me out of the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of him who opens any womb—the firstborn of all; I have taken them for Myself from the sons of Israel;

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 every firstborn among the sons of Israel [is] Mine, among man and among beast; in the day of My striking every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for 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 take the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

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

19 And I give the Levites [as] gifts to Aaron and to his sons, from the midst of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the sons of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the sons of Israel, and there is no plague among the sons of Israel in the sons of Israel drawing near to the holy place.”

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 Moses does—Aaron also, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel—to the Levites according to all that YHWH has commanded Moses concerning the Levites; so the sons of Israel have done to 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 cleanse themselves, and wash their garments, and Aaron waves them [as] a wave-offering before YHWH, and Aaron makes 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 afterward the Levites have gone in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting, before Aaron and before his sons; as YHWH has commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they have done to 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 YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

24 “This [is] who [is] for the Levites: from a son of twenty-five years and upward he goes in to serve the host in the service of the Tent of Meeting,

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 a son of fifty years he returns from the host of the service, and does not serve anymore,

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

26 and he has ministered with his brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to keep the charge, and does not do service; thus you do to the Levites concerning their charge.”

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.