Num 18
1
And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, You and your sons and your father’s house shall
bear the sins of the holy things, and you and your sons shall bear the iniquity of
your priesthood.
2
And take to yourself your brethren the tribe of Levi, the family of your father, and
let them be joined to you, and let them minister to you; and you and your sons with
you shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
3
And they shall keep your charges, and the charges of the tabernacle; only they shall
not approach the holy vessels and the altar, so both they and you shall not die.
4
And they shall be joined to you, and shall keep the charges of the tabernacle of witness,
in all the services of the tabernacle; and a stranger shall not approach to you.
5
And you shall keep the charges of the holy things, and the charges of the altar, and
so there shall not be anger Gr. in among the children of Israel.
6
And I have taken your brethren the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel,
a present given to the Lord, to minister in the services of the tabernacle of witness.
7
And you and your sons after you shall keep up your priestly ministration, according
to the whole manner of the altar, and that which is within the veil; and you shall
minister in the services as the office of your priesthood; and the stranger that comes
near shall die.
8
And the Lord said to Aaron, And, behold, I have given you the charge of the first-fruits
of all things consecrated to me by the children of Israel; and I have given them to
you as an honour, and to your sons after you for a perpetual ordinance.
9
And let this be to you from all the holy things that are consecrated to me, even the
burnt-offerings, from all their gifts, and from all their sacrifices, and from every
trespass-offering of theirs, and from all their sin-offerings, whatever things they
give to me of all their holy things, they shall be your and your sons’.
10
In the most holy place shall you eat them; every male shall eat them, you and your
sons: they shall be holy to you.
11
And this shall be to you of the first-fruits of their gifts, of all the Heb. hpnt; Such appears its general meaning wave-offerings
of the children of Israel; to you have I given them and to your sons
and your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance; every clean person in your house
shall eat them.
12
Every first-offering of oil, and every first-offering of wine, their first-fruits
of corn, whatever they may give to the Lord, to you have I given them.
13
All the first-fruits that are in their land, whatever they shall offer to the Lord,
shall be yours: every clean person in your house shall eat them.
14
Every devoted thing among the children of Israel shall be yours.
15
And every thing that opens the womb of all flesh, whatever they bring to the Lord,
whether man or beast, shall be yours: only the first-born of men shall be surely redeemed,
and you shall redeem the first-born of unclean cattle.
16
And the redemption of them shall be from a month old; their valuation of five shekels—it
is twenty oboli according to the holy shekel.
17
But you shall not redeem the first-born i. e. among; But moscov is used elsewhere in the LXX for horned cattle old enough
to breed of calves and the first-born of sheep and the first-born of goats; they are holy:
and you shall pour their blood upon the altar, and you shall offer the fat as a burnt-offering
for a smell of sweet savour to the Lord.
18
And the flesh shall be yours, as also the breast of the wave-offering and as the right
shoulder, it shall be yours.
19
Every special offering of the holy things, whatever the children of Israel shall specially
offer to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with
you, a perpetual ordinance: it is a covenant Gr. of perpetual salt of salt for ever before the Lord, for you and your seed
after you.
20
And the Lord said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall
you have any portion among them; for I am your portion and your inheritance in the
midst of the children of Israel.
21
And, behold, I have given to the sons of Levi every tithe in Israel for an inheritance
for their services, in whatever they perform ministry in the tabernacle of witness.
22
And the children of Israel shall no more draw nigh to the tabernacle of witness to
incur fatal guilt.
23
And the Levite himself shall perform the service of the tabernacle of witness; and
they shall bear their iniquities, it is a perpetual statute throughout their generations;
and in the midst of the children of Israel they shall not receive an inheritance.
24
Because I have given as a distinct portion to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes
of the children of Israel, whatever they shall offer to the Lord; therefore I said
to them, In the midst of the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
25
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
26
You shall also speak to the Levites, and shall say to them, If you take the tithe
from the children of Israel, which I have given you from them for an inheritance,
then shall you separate from it a heave-offering to the Lord, a tenth of the tenth.
27
And your heave-offerings shall be reckoned to you as corn from the floor, and an offering
from the wine-press.
28
So shall you also separate them from all the offerings of the Lord out of all your
tithes, whatever you shall receive from the children of Israel; and you shall give
of them an offering to the Lord to Aaron the priest.
29
Of all your gifts you shall offer an offering to the Lord, and of every first-fruit
the consecrated part from it.
30
And you shall say to them, When you shall offer the first-fruits from it, then shall
it be reckoned to the Levites as produce from the threshing-floor, and as produce
from the wine-press.
31
And you shall eat it in any place, you and your families; for this is your reward
for your services in the tabernacle of witness.
32
And you shall not bear sin by reason of it, Or, because you shall for you shall have offered an offering of first-fruits from
it, and you shall not
profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you die not.