Numbers 18

₁The Lord said to Aaron: ‘If someone does something wrong at the tent of the Lord, then it will be your fault, and the fault of your sons and your family with you. I will ask you and your family why it happened. If a priest does something wrong, it will be your and your children's fault. ₂You must call your other family, the Levites who are descendants of your forefather Levi, to come and help you with the work that you must do at the tent of the Lord. You and your sons must work at the tent where the 10 commandments are. ₃The Levites must help you with your work and with everything that you have to do at the tent. But they may not come near the holy tools and the altar. If they do, they will die and so will you. ₄The Levites must be with you and they must do the work at the tent of the Lord. They must help you with all the work at the tent. No one else may come near you. ₅You must do the work at the tent of the Lord and the altar yourselves, then I will not become angry with the Israelites again. ₆I have taken away your family, the Levites, from the other Israelites. I took them to work for Me, to do the work at the tent where I appear to the Israelites. I am giving you the Levites to help you. ₇But you and your sons must be the priests who do the work at the altar and in the room behind the curtain. I am giving that work to you, but if someone else does it, he will die.’

₈The Lord said to Aaron: ‘I have told you to see that people bring Me the right offerings. From now on I will give you all the holy_gifts that the Israelites bring to Me. They will always belong to you and your children. This is what you will get. ₉You must also get a part of the most_holy_offerings that you do not burn. These are all the wheat-offerings, all the sin-offerings and all the guilt-offerings, all the most_holy_offerings that the Israelites bring to Me. You and your children must get them. ₁₀Those are most_holy things, but you may eat them. All the men and boys in your families may eat them. They must be holy to you. ₁₁All the move-offerings that the Israelites give Me, I give to you. I give them to you and your sons and your daughters with you. It must always be like this. Anyone in your family who is pure may eat this food. ₁₂When the Israelites bring the first olive oil, wine and wheat to Me, you can have the best part. ₁₃The first fruits of everything that grows in the ground that they bring to Me belong to you. Anyone in your family who is pure may eat this food. ₁₄Everything in the land_of_Israel that is consecrated belongs to you. ₁₅When the Israelites bring their oldest son or the firstborn animal to Me, it belongs to you. But you must buy back every firstborn son and every firstborn donkey or impure animal. ₁₆If you want to buy back a child or an animal that is one month old, you must pay 5 shekels of silver and they must be temple-shekels, each weighing 20 gerahs. ₁₇You may not buy back the firstborn calf or lamb or goat lamb, because they are holy. You must kill them and pour out their blood against the altar and you must burn their fat. This is a burnt-offering that pleases Me. ₁₈But you may have the meat of the animals, and also the breast of the move-offering and the thigh. ₁₉I give you, your sons and your daughters all the holy_gifts that the Israelites bring to Me. They will always be yours. This I promise: You and your descendants will always get them.’

₂₀The Lord also said to Aaron: ‘You will not get any part of the land_of_Israel to live on. Your tribe will not get land among the other tribes, but you will have Me. ₂₁Listen, I give the Levi tribe all the 10ths that the Israelites bring to Me. The Levi tribe must get them for all the work they must do in the tent where I appear to the Israelites. ₂₂The Israelites may no longer come near my tent. If one of them does, he has done wrong and must die. ₂₃The Levites must do the work at the tent and if they do wrong, I will punish them. It will always be like this, for you and your descendants. But the Levites will not get land among the other tribes. ₂₄The Levites will receive the 10ths that the Israelites give to Me. They belong to them. This is why I told the Levites that they do not get land among the other tribes.’

₂₅The Lord said to Moses: ₂₆‘You must tell the Levites: You will get the 10ths that the Israelites bring to Me. I will give them to you. When you get them, you must give one 10th of them to Me. ₂₇This must be your offering to Me, like when people get wheat from the threshing-floor and wine from the wine-press and they give an offering to Me. ₂₈This is how you must give offerings to Me. You must give offerings from all the 10ths that you receive from the Israelites. And the offerings that you bring to Me must go to Aaron, the high-priest. ₂₉You must always give Me the part that I must get from everything that you receive. You must consecrate the best part to Me.

₃₀You must also tell the Levites: If they have consecrated the best part to Me, then they can have the parts that are left over. It is like the wheat that the Levites receive from the threshing-floor and the wine that they get from the wine-press. ₃₁You and your families may eat your part of the 10ths anywhere because it is your reward for the work that you do in the tent where I appear to the Israelites. ₃₂After you have given Me the best part, you may eat the part that you get. It is not wrong. But you may not make the holy things impure. They are the offerings that the Israelites have sacrificed. If you do that, you will die.’