The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

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- Chapter 18 -

Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and the other members of your father’s family are the ones who will be punished if anything bad happens to the things inside the sacred tent. And you and your sons will be punished if any priest does something bad.

Require that those who belong to your tribe, the tribe of Levi, must assist you and your sons while you perform your work at the sacred tent.

But while they do that work, they must not go near the sacred items inside the tent or near the altar. If they do that, they will die, and you will die, too!

They may assist you in doing all the work to take care of the sacred tent, but no one else is permitted to come near the place where you are working.

You are the ones who will do the sacred work inside the sacred tent and at the altar. If you obey these instructions, I will not become very angry with the Israelite people again.

I myself have chosen the descendants of Levi from the other Israelites in order that they may be your special helpers. They are like a gift that I have given you to work at the sacred tent.

But it is you and your sons, who are the priests, who must perform all the details I have commanded concerning the altar and with what happens inside the Very Holy Place. I am giving to you this work of serving as priests. So anyone else who tries to do that work must be executed.”

Offerings for Priests and Levites

Yahweh also said to Aaron, “I myself have appointed you to take care of all the sacred offerings that the Israelite people bring to me. I have given all these sacred offerings to you and to your sons. You and your descendants will get a share of these offerings permanently.

The parts of the offerings that are not completely burned on the altar belong to you. Those parts of the sacred offerings, including the flour offerings, the offerings to make atonement for sins and to remove the guilt of sins, are set apart, and are to be given to you and your sons.

You are to eat it as a most holy offering. Every male in your clan may eat it. But you must have respect for those offerings because they are holy to you.

The priests lift up high the sacred offerings while they are standing in front of the altar. All of those offerings that the Israelites present to me belong to you and your sons and daughters. They will always be your share. All the members of your family who have performed the rituals to cause them to be acceptable to me are permitted to eat from these offerings.

I am also giving to you the first food that people harvest each year and bring to me, the best olive oil and new wine and grain.

All of the first crops that people harvest and bring to me belong to you. Anyone in your family who has performed the ritual to become acceptable to me is permitted to eat that food.

Everything in Israel that is devoted to me, will be yours.

The firstborn males, both humans and domestic animals, that are offered to me, will be yours. But people must buy back their firstborn sons and the firstborn animals that may not be used for sacrifices.

They must buy them back when they are one month old. The price that they must pay for each one is five pieces of silver. They must weigh the silver on the scales that are in the sacred tent.

But they are not permitted to buy back the firstborn cattle or sheep or goats. They are holy and have been set apart for me. Slaughter them and sprinkle their blood on the altar. Then completely burn the fat of those animals on the altar to be an offering to me. The smell as they burn will be very pleasing to me.

The meat from those offerings will be yours, just like the breast and right thigh of animals that are presented to me to restore fellowship with me, as the priest lifts them up high in front of the altar, are yours.

Anything that the Israelite people present to me as holy gifts, I am giving to you. They are for you and your sons and daughters to eat. They will always be your share. This is an agreement that I am making with you, an agreement that will last forever. I am also making this agreement with your descendants.”

Yahweh also said to Aaron, “You priests will not receive any of the land or the property like the other Israelite people will receive. I am what you will receive.

When the Israelite people bring to me a tenth of all the crops and of their newborn animals, I will give that to you descendants of Levi. That will be your payment for the work you do at the sacred tent.

The other Israelites must not go near that tent. If they go near it, I will consider that their doing that is a sin, and they will die for committing that sin.

Only the descendants of Levi are permitted to work at the sacred tent, and they will be punished if anything bad happens to it. That is a law that will never be changed. You descendants of Levi will not receive any land to own among all the other Israelite people.

The Israelites must present one tenth of all their crops and animals as offerings to me, and that is what I give to the descendents of Levi so they can provide for themselves. This is why I said that I will not give the descendants of Levi any land to own.

Yahweh said to Moses,

“Tell this to the descendants of Levi, ’When you receive one tenth of all the crops and animals from the Israelite people, you must present one tenth of all that to me to be a sacred offering,

just like the other Israelites present one tenth of the grain and wine that they produce.

You must present to me one tenth of all that you receive from the Israelite people. That will be your sacred offering to me. You must present it to Aaron.

Select the best parts of the things that are given to you to present them to me.’

Also, tell this to the descendants of Levi, ’When you present those best portions of grain and wine as your offering to me, I will consider that those gifts are as though they came from your own grain and wine.

You descendants of Levi and your families are permitted to eat the rest of that food, and you may eat it wherever you want to, because it is your payment for the work that you do at the sacred tent.

If you give to the priests the best portions of what you receive, you will not be punished by me for accepting one tenth of the gifts that the people bring to me. But you must consider those gifts to be sacred. If you sin by eating those things in ways that are contrary to these regulations that I have given to you, you will be executed.’”

The LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you; but you and your sons with you shall be before the Tent of the Testimony.

They shall keep your commands and the duty of the whole Tent; only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they nor you.

They shall be joined to you and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger shall not come near to you.

“You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.

Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You shall serve. I give you the service of the priesthood as a gift. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”

Offerings for Priests and Levites

The LORD spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel. I have given them to you by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

This shall be yours of the most holy things from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.

“This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

“I have given to you all the best of the oil, all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to the LORD.

The 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 shall eat of it.

“Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.

Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to the LORD, both of man and animal, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.

You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, according to the shekel

(a)

of the sanctuary, which weighs twenty gerahs.(b)

“But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

Their meat shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.

All the wave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD to you and to your offspring with you.”

The LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

“To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.

Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. Among the children of Israel, they shall have no inheritance.

For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’”

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, ‘When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.

Your wave offering shall be credited to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.

Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to the LORD of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give the LORD’s wave offering to Aaron the priest.

Out of all your gifts, you shall offer every wave offering to the LORD, of all its best parts, even the holy part of it.’

“Therefore you shall tell them, ‘When you heave its best from it, then it shall be credited to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the wine press.

You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.

You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best. You shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.’”

Footnotes

(a)18:16 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.

(b)18:16 A gerah is about 0.5 grams or about 7.7 grains.