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Numbers 18:1-32 — Duties of Priests and Levites

Num.18.1-32

¹The LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. ²But also bring near with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you, while you and your sons with you are before the Tent of the Testimony. ³They shall keep your charge and the charge of the whole Tent; but they must not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, so that neither they nor you will die. ⁴They shall join you and keep the charge of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent; and no outsider may come near you. ⁵You shall keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar, so that there will no longer be wrath upon the Israelites. ⁶Behold, I Myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting. ⁷But you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the veil, and you shall serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift of service, and the outsider who comes near shall be put to death." ⁸Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, "Behold, I Myself have given you the charge of My contributions. As for all the holy things of the Israelites, I have given them to you as a portion, and to your sons as a permanent statute. ⁹This shall be yours from the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, including every grain offering, every sin offering, and every guilt offering that they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. ¹⁰You shall eat it as a most holy thing. Every male may eat it; it shall be holy to you. ¹¹And this is yours: the contribution of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent statute. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ¹²All the best of the fresh oil, and all the best of the new wine and the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the LORD, I have given to you. ¹³The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ¹⁴Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. ¹⁵Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, which they offer to the LORD, whether of man or beast, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals. ¹⁶And their redemption price—from a month old you shall redeem them—shall be according to your valuation, five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs. ¹⁷But the firstborn of an ox, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ¹⁸And their meat shall be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and like the right thigh, it shall be yours. ¹⁹All the holy contributions that the Israelites offer up to the LORD, I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you." ²⁰Then the LORD said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. ²¹And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given every tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for their service that they perform, the service of the Tent of Meeting. ²²The Israelites must no longer come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin and die. ²³But the Levites shall perform the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations, and among the Israelites they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴For the tithe of the Israelites, which they offer up as a contribution to the LORD, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them, 'Among the Israelites they shall have no inheritance.'" ²⁵And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶"Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them: 'When you take from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up from it a contribution to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe. ²⁷And your contribution shall be credited to you as though it were the grain from the threshing floor, and as the fullness from the winepress. ²⁸Thus you also shall offer up a contribution to the LORD from all your tithes that you receive from the Israelites; and from it you shall give the LORD's contribution to Aaron the priest. ²⁹Out of all your gifts you shall offer up every contribution due to the LORD, from all the best of them, the holy part of them.' ³⁰Therefore you shall say to them: 'When you offer up the best of it, then it shall be credited to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor, and as the produce of the winepress. ³¹And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting. ³²And you will bear no sin because of it, when you offer up the best of it. But you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, lest you die.'"

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4/11/2026

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