Numbers 18

Modern

Literal

Duties of Priests and Levites

¹So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house must bear the iniquity involving the sanctuary. And you and your sons alone must bear the iniquity involving your priesthood.

¹And YHWH said to Aaron, “You and your sons and the house of your father with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

²But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony.

²And bring your brothers of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, that they may be joined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the Tent of the Testimony.

³And they shall attend to your duties and to all the duties of the Tent; but they must not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die.

³And they shall attend to your needs and the needs of all the tabernacle. However, to the articles of the sanctuary and the altar they shall not come near, lest they die—both they and also you.

⁴They are to join you and attend to the duties of the Tent of Meeting, doing all the work at the Tent; but no outsider may come near you.

⁴And they shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the Tent of Meeting for all the work of the tabernacle; and an outsider may not come near to you.

⁵And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and of the altar, so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.

⁵And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the sons of Israel.

⁶Behold, I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to perform the service for the Tent of Meeting.

⁶And I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; to you they are a gift given by YHWH to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.

⁷But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”

⁷Therefore you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and behind the veil, and you shall serve. I give to you your priesthood as a service for a gift, and the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

Offerings for Priests and Levites

⁸Then the LORD said to Aaron, “Behold, I have put you in charge of My offerings. As for all the sacred offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.

⁸And YHWH spoke to Aaron: “And I, behold, I have given you charge of My contributions. All the holy gifts of the sons of Israel to you I have given as a portion, and to your sons, as an ordinance forever.

⁹A portion of the most holy offerings reserved from the fire will be yours. From all the offerings they render to Me as most holy offerings, whether grain offerings or sin offerings or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons.

⁹This shall be yours from the holy of holies, from the fire: All their offerings, all grain offerings, and all sin offerings, and all guilt offerings, which they render to Me, it is holy of holies to you and to your sons.

¹⁰You are to eat it as a most holy offering,^a and every male may eat it. You shall regard it as holy.

¹⁰In the holy of holies you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹And this is yours as well: the offering of their gifts, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given this to you and your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat it.

¹¹And this is yours: The contribution of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as an everlasting ordinance. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.

¹²I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.

¹²All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits that they offer to YHWH, I have given them to you.

¹³The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD will belong to you. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat them.

¹³The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to YHWH, shall be unto you. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.

¹⁴Every devoted thing in Israel belongs to you.

¹⁴Every devoted thing in Israel shall be unto you.

¹⁵The firstborn of every womb, whether man or beast, that is offered to the LORD belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.

¹⁵Everything opening the womb of all flesh, which they bring to YHWH, whether the man or the beast, shall be yours. Nevertheless you must surely redeem the firstborn of the man, and the firstborn of the unclean animals you shall redeem.

¹⁶You are to pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your valuation: five shekels of silver,^a according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.^b

¹⁶And their ransomed ones from a son of a month, you shall redeem according to your valuation for silver, five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; it is twenty gerahs.

¹⁷But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to splatter their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁷But the firstborn of a cow or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. Their blood you shall sprinkle on the altar, and their fat you shall burn as a fire offering, for a pleasing aroma to YHWH.

¹⁸And their meat belongs to you, just as the breast and right thigh of the wave offering belong to you.

¹⁸And their flesh shall be unto you, as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are unto you.

¹⁹All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt^a before the LORD for you and your offspring.”

¹⁹All the contributions of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to YHWH, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an everlasting statute. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the face of YHWH with you and your seed with you.”

²⁰Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

²⁰And YHWH said to Aaron, “You shall not inherit in their land, and you shall not have any portion in their midst. I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel.

²¹Behold, I have given to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the service of the Tent of Meeting.

²¹And the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance, in return for the work that they perform, the service of the Tent of Meeting.

²²No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.

²²And hereafter the sons of Israel shall not come near to the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin and die.

²³The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.

²³And the Levite, he shall perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, and in the midst of the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

²⁴For I have given to the Levites as their inheritance the tithe that the Israelites present to the LORD as a contribution. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”

²⁴For the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer up to YHWH as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Upon thus I have said to them: In the midst of the sons of Israel they shall not have an inheritance.”

²⁵And the LORD instructed Moses,

²⁵And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶“Speak to the Levites and tell them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the LORD—a tithe of the tithe.

²⁶“And to the Levites speak and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel the tithes that I have given to you from them as your inheritance, you shall offer up from it a contribution to YHWH, a tenth of the tithe.

²⁷Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.

²⁷And your contributions shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

²⁸So you are to present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites, and from these you are to give the LORD’s offering to Aaron the priest.

²⁸Thus you shall lift up—you also—a contribution to YHWH from all your tithes that you receive from the sons of Israel. And you shall give from it the contribution of YHWH to Aaron the priest.

²⁹You must present the offering due the LORD from all the best of every gift, the holiest part of it.’

²⁹Of all your gifts you shall lift up every contribution of YHWH, from all its fat, its holy part from it.’

³⁰Therefore say to the Levites, ‘When you have presented the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the produce of the threshing floor or winepress.

³⁰And you shall say to them, ‘In your lifting up its fat, from it then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor, and as the produce of the winepress.

³¹And you and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere; it is the compensation for your work at the Tent of Meeting.

³¹And You may eat it in any place, you and your house, for it is a reward to you for your work in the Tent of Meeting.

³²Once you have presented the best part of it, you will not incur guilt because of it. But you must not defile the sacred offerings of the Israelites, or else you will die.’”

³²And you shall not bear sin because of it, when you have lifted up its fat from it, and the holy gifts of the sons of Israel you shall not defile, lest you die.’”