Numbers 18

1 And the Lord spoke to Aaron. He said, 1 “You and your sons and your father's house are to carry the sins against the holy things; and you and your sons are to carry the guilt of your priesthood. 2 And bring your brothers the tribe of Levi, your father's clan, along with you; let them be joined to you and do the work of the service for you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of witness. 3 And they are to keep your charge and the charge of the tent; only they are not to come near the holy vessels or the altar, so that neither they nor you die. 4 They are to be joined to you and keep the charge of the tent of witness, in all the services of the tent; and no outsider is to come near you. 5 And you are to keep the charge of the holy things and the charge of the altar, so that there is no more anger against the children of Israel. 6 And I myself have taken your brothers the Levites out of the middle of the children of Israel, a gift given to the Lord, to do the work of the services of the tent of witness. 7 And you and your sons after you are to keep up your priestly service in everything that has to do with the altar and with what is inside the veil; you are to do the work of the service as the gift of your priesthood. And the outsider who comes near is to die.”

8 And the Lord said to Aaron, 8 “Look, I have given you the charge of the firstfruits of everything the children of Israel make holy to me; I have given them to you as your due, and to your sons after you, as a lasting practice. 9 And this is to be yours out of all the holy things that are made holy to me: the offerings, out of all their gifts, and out of all their sacrifices, and out of every offering of theirs for wrongdoing, and out of all their offerings for sin — whatever they give me of all their holy things is to be yours and your sons'. 10 You are to eat them in the most holy place. Every male is to eat them, you and your sons; they are to be holy to you. 11 And this is to be yours: the firstfruits of their gifts, out of all the portions the children of Israel set apart. I have given them to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a lasting practice. Everyone in your house who is clean may eat them. 12 Every first pressing of oil, and every first pressing of wine, and their firstfruits of grain — whatever they give to the Lord, I have given to you. 13 All the firstfruits in their land, whatever they bring to the Lord, are to be yours. Everyone in your house who is clean may eat them. 14 Every thing devoted among the children of Israel is to be yours. 15 And everything that opens the womb of any flesh, whatever they bring to the Lord, whether human or animal, is to be yours — only the firstborn of people are certainly to be ransomed, and you are to ransom the firstborn of unclean animals. [a] 16 And the ransom for them is to be from a month old, at a valuation of two ounces of silver — twenty obols to the piece, by the holy standard. [b] 17 But you are not to ransom the firstborn of cattle or the firstborn of sheep or the firstborn of goats; they are holy. You are to pour their blood on the altar and bring the fat up as an offering, a pleasing smell to the Lord. 18 And the meat is to be yours, as the breast that is set before the Lord and the right shoulder are yours. 19 Every portion of the holy things that the children of Israel set apart for the Lord I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a lasting practice. It is a lasting covenant of salt before the Lord, for you and for your descendants after you.” [c]

20 And the Lord said to Aaron, 20 “You are to have no inheritance in their land, and you are to have no portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. 21 And look — I have given the sons of Levi every tenth in Israel as their inheritance, in return for their services, for the work of the service they do in the tent of witness. [d] 22 And the children of Israel are not to come near the tent of witness again and take on guilt that costs them their lives. 23 The Levite himself is to do the service of the tent of witness, and they are to carry their own guilt. This is a lasting practice through their generations; and among the children of Israel they are to receive no inheritance, 24 because I have given the tenths of the children of Israel to the Levites as their own inheritance, whatever the people bring to the Lord. That is why I said to them: among the children of Israel they are to have no inheritance.”

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 26 “Speak to the Levites as well and say to them: When you take from the children of Israel the tenth I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to set aside from it a portion for the Lord — a tenth of the tenth. 27 And your portions set apart will be counted for you as grain from the threshing floor and as what comes from the winepress. 28 So you too are to set aside portions for the Lord out of all your tenths, whatever you receive from the children of Israel; and out of them you are to give the Lord's portion to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all your gifts you are to set aside the Lord's portion, and out of every firstfruit the holy part of it. 30 And you are to say to them: When you have set aside the firstfruits of it, then the rest will be counted for the Levites as produce from the threshing floor and as produce from the winepress. 31 And you may eat it anywhere, you and your households, because it is your wages for your services in the tent of witness. 32 And you will not take on sin because of it, once you have set aside the firstfruits of it; and you are not to treat the holy things of the children of Israel as common, so that you do not die.”