Numbers 8
8
Aaron Puts the Gold Lamps in Place
1 #
Ex 25.31-40; 37.17-24. The Lord said to Moses, 2“Tell Aaron to put the seven lamps on the lampstand so they shine toward the front.”
3Aaron obeyed and placed the lamps as he was told. 4The lampstand was made of hammered gold from its base to the decorative flowers on top, exactly like the pattern the Lord had described to Moses.
Instructions for Ordaining the Levites
5The Lord said to Moses:
6The Levites must be acceptable to me before they begin working at the sacred tent. So separate them from the rest of the Israelites 7and sprinkle them with the water that washes away their sins. Then have them shave their entire bodies and wash their clothes.
8They are to bring a bull and its proper grain sacrifice of flour mixed with olive oil. And they must bring a second bull as a sacrifice for sin.
9Then you, Moses, will call together all the people of Israel and send the Levites to my sacred tent, 10where the people will place their hands on them. 11Aaron will present the Levites to me as a gift from the people, so that the Levites will do my work.
12After this, the Levites are to place their hands on the heads of the bulls. Sacrifice one of the bulls for the forgiveness of sin, and the other to make sure that I am pleased. Then the Levites will be acceptable to me. 13They will stand at my altar in front of Aaron and his sons, who will dedicate the Levites to me.
14This ceremony will show that the Levites are different from the other Israelites and belong to me in a special way. 15After they have been made acceptable and have been dedicated, they will be allowed to work at my sacred tent. 16They are mine and will take the place of the first-born Israelite sons. 17#Ex 13.2. When I killed the oldest sons of the Egyptians, I decided that the first-born sons in each Israelite family would be mine, as well as every first-born male from their flocks and herds. 18But now I have chosen these Levites as substitutes for the first-born sons, 19and I have given them as gifts to Aaron and his sons to serve at the sacred tent. I will hold them responsible for what happens to anyone who gets too close to the sacred tent.#8.19 I will hold … sacred tent: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
The Levites Are Dedicated to the Lord
20Moses, Aaron, and the other Israelites made sure that the Levites did everything the Lord had commanded. 21The Levites sprinkled themselves with the water of forgiveness and washed their clothes. Then Aaron brought them to the altar and offered sacrifices to forgive their sins and make them acceptable to the Lord. 22After this, the Levites worked at the sacred tent as assistants to Aaron and his sons, just as the Lord had commanded.
23The Lord also told Moses, 24-25“Levites who are between the ages of 25 and 50 must work at my sacred tent. But once they turn 50, they must retire. 26They may help the other Levites in their duties, but they must no longer be responsible for any work themselves. Remember this when you assign their duties.”
Currently Selected:
Numbers 8: CEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
![None](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimageproxy.youversionapi.com%2F58%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fweb-assets.youversion.com%2Fapp-icons%2Fen.png&w=128&q=75)
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Numbers 8
8
The Lampstand
1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Tell Aaron to put the seven lamps in the place I showed you. These lamps will light the area in front of the lampstand.”
3Aaron did this. He put the lamps in the right place so that they lighted the area in front of the lampstand. He obeyed the command that the Lord gave Moses. 4This is how the lampstand was made: It was made from hammered gold, all the way from the gold base at the bottom to the gold flowers at the top. It looked just like the pattern that the Lord had shown to Moses.
Dedicating the Levites
5The Lord said to Moses, 6“Separate the Levites from the other Israelites. Make these Levites clean. 7This is what you should do to make them clean: Sprinkle the special water from the sin offering#8:7 water from the sin offering In this water were the ashes from the red cow that had been burned on the altar as a sin offering. on them. This water will make them clean. Then they must shave their bodies and wash their clothes. This will make their bodies clean.
8“They must take a young bull and the grain offering that must be offered with it. This grain offering will be flour mixed with oil. Then take another young bull for a sin offering. 9Bring the Levites to the area in front of the Meeting Tent. Then bring all the Israelites together at that place. 10Bring the Levites before the Lord. The Israelites will put their hands on them.#8:10 put their hands on them This showed that the people shared in appointing the Levites to their special work. 11Aaron will give the Levites to the Lord as an offering from the Israelites. Then the Levites will be ready to do their special work for the Lord.
12“Tell the Levites to put their hands on the heads of the bulls. One bull will be a sin offering and the other bull will be used as a burnt offering to the Lord. These offerings will make the Levites pure. 13Tell the Levites to stand in front of Aaron and his sons. Then give the Levites to the Lord. They will be like an offering. 14This will make the Levites holy. They will be different from the other Israelites. The Levites will belong to me.
15“So make the Levites pure and give them to the Lord as a special offering.#8:15 special offering Literally, “a lifted offering.” Also in verse 21. After you do this, they can come and do their work at the Meeting Tent. 16The Israelites will give me the Levites. They will belong to me. In the past I told every Israelite family to give me their firstborn son. But now I am taking the Levites in place of these firstborn sons from the other families in Israel. 17Every firstborn in Israel—man or animal—is mine, because I killed all the firstborn children and animals in Egypt. And I chose to take the firstborn sons to belong to me. 18But now I will take the Levites in their place. I will take the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons from the other families in Israel. 19I chose the Levites from among all the Israelites. And I give them as gifts to Aaron and his sons. I want them to do the work at the Meeting Tent. They will serve for all the Israelites. They will help make the sacrifices that make the Israelites pure. Then no great sickness or trouble will come to the Israelites when they come near the holy place.”
20So Moses, Aaron, and all the Israelites obeyed the Lord. They did with the Levites everything that the Lord commanded Moses. 21The Levites washed themselves and their clothes. Then Aaron gave them to the Lord as special offerings. Aaron gave the offerings that covered their sins and made them pure. 22After that the Levites came to the Meeting Tent to do their work. Aaron and his sons watched them. They were responsible for the work of the Levites. Aaron and his sons did what the Lord commanded Moses.
23Then the Lord said to Moses, 24“This is a special command for the Levites: Every Levite man who is 25 years old or older must come and share in the work at the Meeting Tent. 25But when a man is 50 years old, he will retire from this hard work. 26Men who are at least 50 years old will be on duty to help their brothers, but they will not do the work themselves. That is what you must do for the Levites so that they can do their duty.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
![None](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimageproxy.youversionapi.com%2F58%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fweb-assets.youversion.com%2Fapp-icons%2Fen.png&w=128&q=75)
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 1987, 2004 Bible League International