Numbers 18
18
Provision for the Priesthood
1The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral family # 18:1 Lit the house of your father,# 18:1 Nm 10:21 will be responsible for iniquity against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for iniquity involving your priesthood. 2But also bring your relatives with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony. # 18:2 Nm 8:5–26 3They are to perform duties for you and for the whole tent. They must not come near the sanctuary equipment or the altar; otherwise, both they and you will die. 4They are to join you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no unauthorized person may come near you.
5“You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again. # 18:5 Nm 1:53; 16; 17:12–13; 1Ch 9:19; Ezk 44:11 6Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you, assigned by the Lord to work at the tent of meeting. 7But you and your sons will carry out your priestly responsibilities # 18:7 Nm 3:10 for everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the curtain, and you will do that work. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, # 18:7 Or curtain. So you are to perform the service; a gift of your priesthood I grant but an unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary will be put to death.” # 18:7 Nm 1:51; 3:10,38
Support for the Priests and Levites
8Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions # 18:8 Ex 36:3; Lv 22:12; Nm 18:19; Dt 12:6,11,17; Neh 10:39; 12:44; 13:5; Ezk 20:40; Mal 3:8 brought to me. As for all the holy offerings # 18:8 Lv 22:2–7,15–16; Nm 18:32; Ezk 42:13 of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute. # 18:8 Lv 10:12–15; Nm 5:9 9A portion of the holiest offerings kept from the fire will be yours; every one of their offerings that they give me, whether the grain offering, sin offering, or guilt offering will be most holy for you and your sons. 10You are to eat it as a most holy offering. # 18:10 Or it in a most holy place Every male may eat it; it is to be holy to you.
11“The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites’ presentation offerings # 18:11 Ex 29:24–27; 35:22; 38:24,29; Lv 7:30,34; 8:27,29; 9:21; 10:14–15; 14:12,24; 23:15,17,20; Nm 6:20; 8:11–21 to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. # 18:11 Lv 7:34–36 Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it. 12I am giving you all the best of the fresh oil, new wine, and grain, # 18:12 Dt 7:13; 11:14; 12:17; 14:23; 18:4; 28:51; Neh 10:37–39 which the Israelites give to the Lord as their firstfruits. # 18:12 Gn 49:3; Ex 23:16,19; 34:22,26; Lv 2:12,14; 23:17,20; Nm 28:26; Jr 2:3; Rm 8:23; 11:16; 1Co 15:20,23; 16:15; Jms 1:18; Rv 14:4 13The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, belong to you. Every clean person in your house may eat them.
14“Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated to the Lord # 18:14 Lv 27:28 belongs to you. 15The firstborn of every living thing, human or animal, presented to the Lord belongs to you. But you must certainly redeem a human firstborn, # 18:15 Ex 13:11–16 and redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal. 16You will pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your assessment: five shekels # 18:16 A shekel is about two-fifths of an ounce of silver by the standard sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs. # 18:16 Lv 27:6; Nm 3:46–47
17“However, you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to splatter their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a food offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18But their meat belongs to you. It belongs to you like the breast of the presentation offering and the right thigh.
19“I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the Lord as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt # 18:19 Lv 2:13; 2Ch 13:5 before the Lord for you as well as your offspring.”
20The Lord told Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land; there will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. # 18:20 Dt 10:9; Jos 18:7; Ezk 44:28–30
21“Look, I have given the Levites every tenth # 18:21 Dt 26:12; 2Ch 31:12; Neh 10:37–38; Heb 7:5 in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the work of the tent of meeting. 22The Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. 23The Levites will do the work of the tent of meeting, and they will bear the consequences of their iniquity. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites; # 18:23 Dt 10:8–9; 18:1–2; Jos 13:14,33 this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. 24For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the Lord as a contribution for their inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”
25The Lord instructed Moses, 26“Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you are to present part of it as an offering to the Lord — a tenth of the tenth. 27Your offering will be credited to you as if it were your grain from the threshing floor or the full harvest from the winepress. 28You are to present an offering to the Lord from every tenth you receive from the Israelites. Give some of it to the priest Aaron as an offering to the Lord. 29You must present the entire offering due the Lord from all your gifts. The best part of the tenth # 18:29 Nm 18:12 is to be consecrated.
30“Tell them further: Once you have presented the best part of the tenth, and it is credited to you Levites as the produce of the threshing floor or the winepress, 31then you and your household may eat it anywhere. It is your wage in return for your work at the tent of meeting. 32You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites’ holy offerings, so that you will not die.”
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Numbers 18: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Numbers 18
18
Priests and Levites
The duties of the priests and Levites
1The LORD said to Aaron:
You, your sons, and the other Levites of the Kohath clan, are responsible for what happens at the sacred tent.#18.1 are responsible…sacred tent: Or “are to make sure that no one gets near the sacred tent.” And you and your sons will be responsible for what the priests do. 2The Levites are your relatives and are here to help you in your service at the tent. 3You must see that they perform their duties. But if they go near any of the sacred objects or the altar, all of you will die. 4No one else is allowed to take care of the sacred tent or to do anything connected with it. 5Follow these instructions, so I won't become angry and punish the Israelites ever again.
6I alone chose the Levites from all the other tribes to belong to me, and I have given them to you as your helpers. 7But only you and your sons can serve as priests at the altar and in the most holy place. Your work as priests is a gift from me, and anyone else who tries to do that work must be put to death.
The priests' share of offerings given to the LORD
(Deuteronomy 18.1-8)
8-9The LORD said to Aaron:
I have put you in charge of the sacred gifts and sacrifices that the Israelites bring to me. And from now on, you, your sons, and your descendants will receive part of the sacrifices for sin, as well as part of the grain sacrifices, and the sacrifices to make things right. Your share of these sacrifices will be the parts not burnt on the altar. 10Since these things are sacred, they must be eaten near the sacred tent, but only men are allowed to eat them.
11You will also receive part of the special gifts and offerings that the Israelites bring to me. Any member of your family who is clean and acceptable for worship can eat these things. 12For example, when the Israelites bring me the first batches of oil, wine, and grain, you can have the best parts of those gifts. 13And the first part of the crops from their fields and vineyards also belongs to you. The people will offer this to me, then anyone in your family who is clean may have some of it.
14Everything in Israel that has been completely dedicated to me#18.14 that has been completely dedicated to me: This translates a Hebrew word that describes property and things that were taken away from humans and given to God for ever. Sometimes such things had to be completely destroyed (see Joshua 6.15-19). will now belong to you.#Lv 27.28.
15The firstborn son in every Israelite family, as well as the firstborn males of their flocks and herds, belong to me. But a firstborn son and every firstborn donkey#18.15 donkey: The Hebrew text has “unclean animal”, which probably refers to a donkey (see Exodus 13.13; 34.20). must be bought back from me. 16The price for a firstborn son who is at least one month old will be five pieces of silver, weighed according to the official standards. 17However, all firstborn cattle, sheep, and goats belong to me and cannot be bought back. Splatter their blood on the altar and send their fat up in smoke, so I can smell it and be pleased. 18You are allowed to eat the meat of those animals, just as you can eat the choice ribs and the right hind leg of the special sacrifices.
19From now on, the sacred offerings that the Israelites give to me will belong to you, your sons, and your daughters. This is my promise to you and your descendants, and it will never change.
20You will not receive any land in Israel as your own. I am the LORD, and I will give you whatever you need.
What the Levites receive
The LORD said to Aaron:
21Ten per cent of the Israelites' crops and one out of every ten of their newborn animals belong to me. But I am giving all this to the Levites as their pay for the work they do at the sacred tent.#Lv 27.30-33; Dt 14.22-29. 22-23They are the only ones allowed to work at the tent, and they must not let anyone else come near it. Those who do must be put to death, and the Levites will also be punished. This law will never change.
Since the Levites won't be given any land in Israel as their own, 24they will be given the crops and newborn animals that the Israelites offer to me.
What the Levites must give
25The LORD told Moses 26to say to the Levites:
When you receive from the people of Israel ten per cent of their crops and newborn animals, you must offer a tenth of that to me. 27Just as the Israelites give me part of their grain and wine, you must set aside part of what you receive 28as an offering to me. That amount must then be given to Aaron, 29so the best of what you receive will be mine.
30After you have dedicated the best parts to me, you can eat the rest, just as the Israelites eat part of their grain and wine after offering them to me.#18.30 just as the Israelites…to me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. 31Your share may be eaten anywhere by anyone in your family, because it is your pay for working at the sacred tent. 32You won't be punished for eating it, as long as you have already offered the best parts to me.
The gifts and sacrifices brought by the people must remain sacred, and if you eat any part of them before they are offered to me, you will be put to death.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012