Numbers 8

1 Yahweh said to Moses/me,

And the Lord said to Moses,

2 “Tell Aaron to put the seven lamps on the lampstand and place them in such a way that they shine toward the front 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 So [Moses/I told him what Yahweh said], and he did that.

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 The lampstand had been made from gold that had been hammered [from one large lump of gold], from its base to the decorations at the top [that resembled] flowers. The lampstand was made exactly like Yahweh had told Moses/me that it should be made.

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 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

And the Lord said to Moses,

6 “You must cause the descendants of Levi to be acceptable to me by setting them apart from the other Israeli people.

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

7 Do that by sprinkling them with water [which will symbolize] their being freed/cleansed from [the guilt of] their sins. Then they must shave [off all the hair on] their bodies and wash their clothes.

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 Then they must bring to the Sacred Tent one bull and some grain mixed with [olive] oil. [Those things will be burned] as sacrifices. They must also bring another bull [that will enable me to forgive them] for the sins they have committed.

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 Then you must summon all the Israeli people to come together in front of the Sacred Tent, to [gather around] the descendants of Levi.

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

10 Then the Israeli people must lay their hands on the descendants of Levi.

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

11 Aaron must then present them to me to be a gift from the Israeli people, in order that they can work for me [at the Sacred Tent].

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 “After that, the descendants of Levi must place their hands on the heads of the two bulls. Then the bulls will be [killed and] burned on the altar. One will be an offering to enable me [to forgive them for] sins they have committed, and the other will be completely burned [to please me].

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 The descendants of Levi must stand [at the altar] in front of Aaron and his sons, and you must then dedicate to me the descendants of Levi.

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

14 This ritual will show that the descendants of Levi are set apart from the other Israelis and that they belong to me.

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

15 “After the descendants of Levi have been made acceptable to me, and presented to me like a special offering, they may start to work at the Sacred Tent.

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 They will belong to me. They will work for me as substitutes for the firstborn males of all the Israelis, [who also belong to 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 All the firstborn males in Israel, both the people and the animals, are mine. When I caused all the firstborn sons of the people of Egypt to die, [I (spared/did not kill) the firstborn males of the Israelis]. I set them apart to belong to me. I said that the firstborn males of all their domestic animals would also belong to me.

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 But now I have chosen the descendants of Levi to take the places of the firstborn males of other Israelis.

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

19 I have appointed the descendants of Levi to help Aaron and his sons at the Sacred Tent, as Aaron and his sons offer the sacrifices so that the Israeli people’s sins will be forgiven, and to prevent the Israelis from coming close to the tent with the result that a plague would cause many of them to become sick and die.”

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 Aaron and Moses/I and the other Israelis helped the descendants of Levi to do everything that Yahweh had commanded.

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 The descendants of Levi [sprinkled themselves with water to symbolize that] they had been freed/cleansed from [the guilt of] their sins, and they washed their clothes. Then Aaron brought them to [the altar to] present them to Yahweh, and he offered sacrifices to cleanse them from [the guilt of] their sins and cause them to become acceptable to Yahweh.

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 After that, the descendants of Levi started to work at the Sacred Tent to assist Aaron and his sons. They did that just as Yahweh had commanded Moses/me.

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 Yahweh also said this to Moses/me:

And the Lord said to Moses,

24 “The descendants of Levi who are between 25 and 50 years old will work at the Sacred Tent.

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 But after they become 50 years old, they must (retire/not do that work any more).

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

26 They may help the other descendants of Levi to do their work at the Sacred Tent, but they must not do the work themselves. That is what you must tell them about the work they will do.”

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.