18 1, 7 The office of Aaron and his sons, 2 With the Levites. 8 The Priest’s part of the offerings. 20 God is their portion. 26 The Levites have their tithes, and offer the tenths thereof to the Lord.
1 And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou, and thy sons, and thy father’s house with thee, shall bear [a]the iniquity of the Sanctuary: both thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your Priest’s office.
2 And bring also with thee thy brethren of the tribe of Levi of the family of thy father which shall be joined with thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the Tabernacle of the Testimony:
3 And they shall [b]keep my charge, even the charge of all the Tabernacle: but they shall not come near the instruments of the Sanctuary, nor to the altar, lest they die, both they and you.
4 And they shall be joined with thee, and keep the charge of the Tabernacle of the Congregation for all the service of the Tabernacle: and no [c]stranger shall come near unto you:
5 Therefore shall ye keep the charge of the Sanctuary, and the charge of the Altar: so there shall fall no more wrath upon the children of Israel.
6 For lo, I have (A)taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel, which as a gift of yours, are given unto the Lord, to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
7 But thou, and thy sons with thee shall keep your Priest’s office for all things of the Altar, and within the veil: therefore shall ye serve: for I have made your Priest’s office [d]an office of service: therefore the stranger that cometh near shall be slain.
8 ¶ Again the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I have given thee the keeping of mine [e]offerings, of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel: unto thee have I given them for the anointing’s sake, and to thy sons for a perpetual ordinance.
9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from [f]the fire: all their offering of all their meat offering, and of all their sin offering, and of all their trespass offering, which they bring unto me, that shall be most holy unto thee, and to thy sons.
10 In the most [g]holy place shalt thou eat it: every male shall eat of it: it is holy unto thee.
11 This also shall be thine: the heave offering of their gift, with all the shake offerings of the children of Israel, I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy [h]daughters with thee, to be a duty forever: all the clean in thine house shall eat of it.
12 All the [i]fat of the oil, and all the fat of the wine, and of the wheat, which they shall offer unto the Lord for their firstfruits, I have given them unto thee.
13 And the first ripe of all that is in their land, which they shall bring unto Lord shall be thine: all the clean in thine house shall eat of it.
14 (B)Everything separate from the common use in Israel shall be thine.
15 All that first openeth the (C)matrix of any flesh, which they shall offer unto the Lord of man or beast, shall be thine: but the firstborn of man shalt thou redeem, and the firstborn of the unclean beast shalt thou redeem.
16 And those that are to be redeemed, shalt thou redeem from the age of a month, according to thy estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the Sanctuary, (D)which is twenty gerahs.
17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat shalt thou not [j]redeem: for they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood at the altar, and thou shalt burn their fat: it is a sacrifice made by fire for a sweet savor unto the Lord.
18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, (E)as the shake breast, and as the right shoulder shall be thine.
19 All the heave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel shall offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee, to be a duty forever: it is a perpetual covenant [k]of salt before the Lord, to thee, and to thy seed with thee.
20 ¶ And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou shalt have none inheritance in their [l]land: neither shalt thou have any part among them: (F)I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
21 For behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve in the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
22 Neither shall the children of Israel any more [m]come near the Tabernacle of the Congregation, lest they sustain sin, and die.
23 But the Levites shall do the service in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and they shall bear [n]their sin: it is a law forever in your generations, that among the children of Israel they possess none inheritance.
24 For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they shall offer as an offering unto the Lord, I have given the Levites for an inheritance, therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel ye shall possess none inheritance.
25 ¶ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
26 Speak also unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye shall take of the children of Israel the tithes, which I have given you of them for your inheritance, then shall ye take an heave offering of that same for the Lord, even the tenth part of the tithe.
27 And your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as the [o]corn of the barn, or as the abundance of the winepress.
28 So ye shall also offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye shall receive of the children of Israel, and ye shall give thereof the Lord’s heave offering to Aaron the Priest.
29 Ye shall offer of all your [p]gifts all the Lord’s heave offerings: of all the [q]fat of the same shall ye offer the holy things thereof.
30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have offered the fat thereof, then it shall be counted unto the Levites, as the increase of the corn floor, or as the increase of the winepress.
31 And ye shall eat it in all [r]places, ye, and your households: for it is your wages for your service in the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
32 And ye shall [s]bear no sin by the reason of it, when ye have offered the fat of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy [t]things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.
Footnotes
- Numbers 18:1 If you trespass in anything concerning the ceremonies of the Sanctuary of your office, you shall be punished.
- Numbers 18:3 That is, the things which are committed to thee, or, which thou dost enjoin them.
- Numbers 18:4 Which was not of the tribe of Levi.
- Numbers 18:7 Or, gift.
- Numbers 18:8 As the firstfruit, firstborn, and the tenths.
- Numbers 18:9 That which was not burned should be the Priest’s.
- Numbers 18:10 That is, in the Sanctuary, between the court and the Holiest of all.
- Numbers 18:11 Read Lev. 10:14.
- Numbers 18:12 That is, the chiefest, or the best.
- Numbers 18:17 Because they are appointed for sacrifice.
- Numbers 18:19 That is, sure, stable, and incorruptible.
- Numbers 18:20 Of Canaan.
- Numbers 18:22 To serve therein: for the Levites are put in their place.
- Numbers 18:23 If they fail in their office, they shall be punished.
- Numbers 18:27 As acceptable as the fruit of your own ground or vineyard.
- Numbers 18:29 Which ye have received of the children of Israel.
- Numbers 18:29 Read verse 12.
- Numbers 18:31 As in verse 11.
- Numbers 18:32 Ye shall not be punished therefore.
- Numbers 18:32 The offerings which the Israelites have offered to God.