Numbers 18
1 The LORD said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your father’s household with you will bear responsibility for the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you will bear responsibility for your priesthood.
2 Also have your brothers, the tribe of Levi, your father’s tribe, come near with you, so they may join you and serve you. You and your sons with you will stand before the Tent of the Testimony.
3 They will carry out their duties for you and for the whole tent, but they must not come near the sacred vessels or the altar, or they and you will die.
4 They will join you and carry out the duties of the Tent of Meeting, doing all the work of the tent. No outsider may come near you.
5 You will carry out the duties of the sanctuary and the altar, so that there will be no more wrath against the Israelites.
6 As for me, I have taken your brothers, the Levites, from among the Israelites. They are a gift to you, given to the LORD to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.
7 You and your sons with you will keep your priesthood in everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil. This is how you will serve. I give you the priesthood as a service of gift. Anyone who is not a priest and comes near will be put to death.”
8 The LORD said to Aaron, “As for me, I have given you charge of my contributions. I have given you and your sons all the sacred things of the Israelites as your share, as a permanent right.
9 This will be yours from the most holy offerings, from what is taken from the fire: every offering they bring to me—their grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. They are most holy; they belong to you and your sons.
10 You must eat them in a most holy place. Every male may eat them; they will be holy to you.
11 This will also be yours: the contribution from their gifts, including all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and your sons and daughters with you as a permanent right. Anyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat them.”
12 “I have given you all the finest olive oil, and all the finest of the new wine and grain—the first portions they give to the LORD.
13 The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Anyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat them.
14 Everything in Israel devoted to destruction will be yours.
15 Every firstborn of all living creatures that they present to the LORD, whether human or animal, will be yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son, and you must also redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.
16 You must redeem them when they are one month old, according to your valuation: five shekels of silver, measured by the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.
17 But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You must sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
18 Their meat will be yours, just like the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh; they will be yours.
19 I have given you and your sons and daughters with you all the contributions of the sacred offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD as a permanent right. It is a lasting covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring with you.”
20 The LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, and you will have no share among them. I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.
21 I have given the Levites every tithe in Israel as an inheritance in return for the service they perform, the service of the Tent of Meeting.”
22 “The Israelites must no longer come near the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.
23 The Levites will do the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they will bear the responsibility for it. This is a permanent statute for all your generations. They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.
24 For I have given the Levites as their inheritance the tithe that the Israelites present to the LORD as a contribution. That is why I said about them, ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”
25 The LORD spoke to Moses:
26 “Speak to the Levites and tell them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present a contribution from it to the LORD: a tenth of the tithe.
27 Your contribution will be counted for you as grain from the threshing floor and as the full yield of the winepress.
28 In the same way, you too must present a contribution to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites, and from it you must give the LORD’s contribution to Aaron the priest.
29 From all the gifts you receive, you must present every contribution due to the LORD—the best part of all of it, the portion set apart from it.’
30 Also tell them: ‘When you present its best part, it will be counted for the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and the produce of the winepress.
31 You and your households may eat it anywhere, because it is your wages in return for your service at the Tent of Meeting.
32 You will incur no guilt because of it when you present its best part. You must not profane the sacred offerings of the Israelites, or you will die.’”
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app