Duties of Priests and Levites

18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary,^(A) and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. ² Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister^(B) before the tent of the covenant law. ³ They are to be responsible to you^(C) and are to perform all the duties of the tent,^(D) but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die.^{(E) 4} They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are.^(F)

⁵ “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar,^(G) so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. ⁶ I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you,^(H) dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting.^{(I) 7} But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain.^(J) I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift.^(K) Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.^(L)”

Offerings for Priests and Levites

⁸ Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion,^(M) your perpetual share.^{(N) 9} You are to have the part of the most holy offerings^(O) that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain^(P) or sin^[a](Q) or guilt offerings,^(R) that part belongs to you and your sons. ¹⁰ Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it.^(S) You must regard it as holy.^(T)

¹¹ “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings^(U) of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share.^(V) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean^(W) may eat it.

¹² “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain^(X) they give the Lord^(Y) as the firstfruits of their harvest.^{(Z) 13} All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours.^(AA) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.^(AB)

¹⁴ “Everything in Israel that is devoted^[b] to the Lord^(AC) is yours. ¹⁵ The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours.^(AD) But you must redeem^(AE) every firstborn^(AF) son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.^{(AG) 16} When they are a month old,^(AH) you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels^[c](AI) of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel,^(AJ) which weighs twenty gerahs.^(AK)

¹⁷ “But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy.^(AL) Splash their blood^(AM) against the altar and burn their fat^(AN) as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.^{(AO) 18} Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering^(AP) and the right thigh are yours.^{(AQ) 19} Whatever is set aside from the holy^(AR) offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt^(AS) before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”

²⁰ The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them;^(AT) I am your share and your inheritance^(AU) among the Israelites.

²¹ “I give to the Levites all the tithes^(AV) in Israel as their inheritance^(AW) in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.^{(AX) 22} From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.^{(AY) 23} It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance^(AZ) for the generations to come.^(BA) They will receive no inheritance^(BB) among the Israelites.^{(BC) 24} Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord.^(BD) That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you^(BE) as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering.^{(BF) 27} Your offering will be reckoned^(BG) to you as grain from the threshing floor^(BH) or juice from the winepress.^{(BI) 28} In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes^(BJ) you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’

³⁰ “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.^{(BK) 31} You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.^{(BL) 32} By presenting the best part^(BM) of it you will not be guilty in this matter;^(BN) then you will not defile the holy offerings^(BO) of the Israelites, and you will not die.’”

The Water of Cleansing

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ² “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer^(BP) without defect or blemish^(BQ) and that has never been under a yoke.^{(BR) 3} Give it to Eleazar^(BS) the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp^(BT) and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle^(BU) it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. ⁵ While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.^{(BV) 6} The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop^(BW) and scarlet wool^(BX) and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷ After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water.^(BY) He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. ⁸ The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

⁹ “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer^(BZ) and put them in a ceremonially clean place^(CA) outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing;^(CB) it is for purification from sin.^{(CC) 10} The man who gathers up^(CD) the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening.^(CE) This will be a lasting ordinance^(CF) both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.^(CG)

¹¹ “Whoever touches a human corpse^(CH) will be unclean for seven days.^{(CI) 12} They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day;^(CJ) then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.^{(CK) 13} If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse,^(CL) they defile the Lord’s tabernacle.^(CM) They must be cut off from Israel.^(CN) Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean;^(CO) their uncleanness remains on them.

¹⁴ “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, ¹⁵ and every open container^(CP) without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.

¹⁶ “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death,^(CQ) or anyone who touches a human bone^(CR) or a grave,^(CS) will be unclean for seven days.^(CT)

¹⁷ “For the unclean person, put some ashes^(CU) from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water^(CV) over them. ¹⁸ Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop,^(CW) dip it in the water and sprinkle^(CX) the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave^(CY) or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. ¹⁹ The man who is clean is to sprinkle^(CZ) those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them.^(DA) Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes^(DB) and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. ²⁰ But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled^(DC) the sanctuary of the Lord.^(DD) The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.^{(DE) 21} This is a lasting ordinance^(DF) for them.

“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. ²² Anything that an unclean^(DG) person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”