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
Numbers 18
18
1And Jehovah said to Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. 2And thy brethren also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, that they may unite with thee, and minister unto thee; but thou and thy sons with thee shall serve before the tent of the testimony. 3And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of the whole tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they may not die, and you as well as they. 4And they shall unite with thee, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; and no stranger shall come near to you. 5And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there come no wrath any more upon the children of Israel. 6And I, behold, I have taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the children of Israel; to you are they given as a gift for Jehovah to perform the service of the tent of meeting. 7But thou and thy sons with thee shall attend to your priesthood for all that concerneth the altar, and for that which is inside the veil; and ye shall perform the service: I give you your priesthood as a service of gift, and the stranger that cometh near shall be put to death.
8And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, And I, behold, I have given thee the charge of my heave-offerings, of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; to thee have I given them, because of the anointing, and to thy sons by an everlasting statute. 9This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, of all their oblations, and of all their sin-offerings, and of all their trespass-offerings, which they render unto me, it is most holy for thee and for thy sons. 10As most holy shalt thou eat it: every male shall eat it; it shall be holy unto thee. 11And this shall be thine: the heave-offering of their gift, with all the wave-offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by an everlasting statute; every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. 12All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they give to Jehovah, have I given thee. 13The first ripe of everything that is in their land, which they shall bring to Jehovah, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. 14Every devoted thing in Israel shall be thine. 15Everything that breaketh open the womb of all flesh, which they present to Jehovah, of men or of beasts, shall be thine; nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou in any case ransom, and the firstborn of unclean beasts shalt thou ransom. 16And those that are to be ransomed from a month old shalt thou ransom, according to thy valuation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, thou shalt not ransom: they are holy. Thou shalt sprinkle their blood on the altar, and their fat shalt thou burn as an offering by fire for a sweet odour to Jehovah. 18And their flesh shall be thine; as the wave-breast and as the right shoulder shall it be thine. 19All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to Jehovah, have I given thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by an everlasting statute: it shall be an everlasting covenant of salt before Jehovah unto thee and thy seed with thee.
20And Jehovah said to Aaron, In their land thou shalt have no inheritance, neither shalt thou have any portion among them: I am thy portion and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. 21And to the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. 22Neither shall the children of Israel henceforth come near the tent of meeting, to bear sin and die. 23But the Levite, he shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations. And among the children of Israel shall they possess no inheritance; 24for I have given for an inheritance to the Levites the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering to Jehovah; therefore I have said of them, They shall possess no inheritance among the children of Israel. 25And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 26And to the Levites shalt thou speak, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer a heave-offering from it for Jehovah, the tenth of the tithe. 27And your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you, as the corn from the threshing-floor, and as the fulness of the winepress. 28Thus ye also shall offer Jehovah's heave-offering of all your tithes, which ye take of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof Jehovah's heave-offering to Aaron the priest. 29Out of all that is given you ye shall offer the whole heave-offering of Jehovah, — of all the best thereof the hallowed part thereof. 30And thou shalt say unto them, When ye heave the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as produce of the threshing-floor, and as produce of the winepress. 31And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households; for it is your reward for your service in the tent of meeting. 32And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, if ye heave from it the best of it; and ye shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.