Numbers 18
Modern English Version
Duties of Priests and Levites
18 And the Lord said to Aaron: You and your sons and your father’s house with you will bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the iniquity of your priesthood. 2 Your brothers also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring with you, and let them be joined with you, and minister to you. But you and your sons with you will minister before the tent of witness. 3 They will perform duties for you and for the whole tent; but they will not come near the vessels of the sanctuary or the altar, so that neither they nor you die. 4 They will be joined to you and perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; no foreigner will come near you.
5 You yourselves will perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, so that wrath may never come upon the children of Israel again. 6 I Myself have taken your brothers, the Levites, from among the children of Israel; they are given to you as a gift from the Lord to perform the service of the tent of meeting. 7 And you and your sons with you will attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar, and within the veil, and you will serve. I have given your priesthood to you as a gift service, and the foreigner that comes near will be put to death.
Offerings for Priests and Levites
8 The Lord spoke to Aaron: I have certainly given you the charge of the offerings made to Me, all the hallowed gifts of the children of Israel. To you and to your sons have I given them as a portion, as an ordinance forever. 9 This will be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: All of their offerings, all of their grain offerings and all of their sin offerings, and all of their guilt offerings, which they render to Me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 In a most holy place shall you eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.
11 This is yours: the offering of their gift, with 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 an eternal statute. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.
12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of what they will offer to the Lord, those have I given to you. 13 The first ripe fruit of all which is in their land, which they will bring to the Lord, will be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.
14 Everything devoted in Israel will be yours. 15 Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether it is of men or animals, will be yours. However, you will surely redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you will redeem. 16 Their redemption price, reckoned from one month of age, is five shekels,[a] after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
17 But the firstborn of a herd animal, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you will not redeem. They are holy. You will splash their blood on the altar and will burn their fat as a fire offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 Their flesh will be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours. 19 All the offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the Lord I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as an eternal statute. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord, to you and to your seed with you.
20 The Lord said to Aaron: You will not have an inheritance in their land, nor will you have any territory among them. I am your territory and your inheritance among the children of Israel.
Tithes for Supporting the Levites
21 I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service, which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting. 22 Hereafter, the children of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites will do the service of the tent of meeting, and they will bear their iniquity. It will be an eternal statute throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. 24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, among the children of Israel they will have no inheritance.
The Tithe of the Levites
25 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 26 You will speak to the Levites, and say to them: When you take from the children of Israel the tithes that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you will offer up an offering of it to the Lord, even one-tenth of the tithe. 27 And this offering will be counted to you, as though it was the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you also will set apart an offering to the Lord from all the tithes which you receive from the children of Israel. Out of them you will give the offering of the Lord to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the best of them, the consecrated part of them.
30 You will say to them: When you have offered the best from it, then it will be counted to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress. 31 You will eat it in every place, you and your households, because it is your reward for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 You will bear no sin because of it, when you have offered the best of it. The holy things of the children of Israel you will not pollute, and you will not die.
Footnotes
- Numbers 18:16 About 2 ounces, or 58 grams.
Numbers 18
New International Reader's Version
Duties of Priests and Levites
18 The Lord spoke to Aaron. He said, “You, your sons and your family are in charge of the sacred tent. You will be responsible for sins connected with the tent. And you and your sons alone will be responsible for sins connected with the office of priest. 2 Bring the Levites from your tribe to join you. They will help you when you and your sons serve at the tent of meeting. That is where the tablets of the covenant law are kept. 3 The Levites will work for you. They must do everything that needs to be done at the tent. But they must not go near anything that belongs to the sacred tent. And they must not go near the altar. If they do, they and you will die. 4 They will help you take care of the tent of meeting. They will join you in all the work at the tent. No one else can come near you there.
5 “You will be responsible for taking care of the sacred tent and the altar. Then I will not be angry with the Israelites again. 6 I myself have chosen the Levites. I have chosen them from among the Israelites. They are a gift to you. I have set them apart to do the work at the tent of meeting. 7 But only you and your sons can serve as priests. Only you and your sons can work with everything at the altar and behind the curtain. I am letting you serve as priests. It is a gift from me. Anyone else who comes near the sacred tent must be put to death.”
Offerings for Priests and Levites
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron. He said, “I have put you in charge of the offerings brought to me. The Israelites will give me holy offerings. I will give all their offerings to you and your sons. They are the part that belongs to you. They are your share for all time to come. 9 You will have a part of the very holy offerings. It is the part not burned in the fire. That part belongs to you and your sons. You will have a part of all the gifts the people bring me as very holy offerings. It does not matter whether they are grain offerings or sin offerings or guilt offerings. 10 Eat your part as something that is very holy. Every male will eat it. You must consider it holy.
11 “Part of the gifts the Israelites bring as wave offerings will be set aside. That part will also belong to you. I will give it to you and your sons and daughters. It is your share for all time to come. Everyone in your home who is ‘clean’ can eat it.
12 “I will give you all the finest olive oil and grain the people give me. And I will give you all the finest fresh wine they give me. They give all those things as the first share of their harvest. 13 All the first shares of the harvest they bring me will belong to you. Everyone in your home who is ‘clean’ can eat it.
14 “Everything in Israel that is set apart to me belongs to you. 15 Offer to me every male born first to its mother. It belongs to you. That includes humans and animals alike. But you must buy back every oldest son. Suppose certain animals are ‘unclean.’ Then you must buy back every male born first to its mother. 16 When they are a month old, you must buy them back. You must pay the price to buy them back. The price is set at two ounces of silver. It must be weighed out according to the standard weights used in the sacred tent.
17 “But you must not buy back any male calf, sheep or goat born first. They are holy. Splash their blood against the altar. And burn their fat as a food offering. Its smell pleases me. 18 The meat will belong to you. It is just like the breast and the right thigh of the wave offering. Those parts belong to you. 19 Part of the holy offerings the Israelites bring to me will be set aside. No matter what it is, I will give it to you and your sons and daughters. It is your share for all time to come. It is a covenant of salt from me. The salt means that the covenant will last for all time to come for you and your children.”
20 The Lord spoke to Aaron. He said, “You will not receive any part of the land I am giving to Israel. You will not have any share among them. I am your share. I am what you will receive among the Israelites.
21 “The Israelites will give me a tenth of everything they produce. And I will give it to the Levites. They serve at the tent of meeting. I will give them the tenth for the work they do there. 22 From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting. If they do, they will be punished for their sin. They will die. 23 The Levites will do the work at the tent of meeting. They will be responsible for any sins connected with the tent. This is a law that will last for all time to come. The Levites will not receive any share among the Israelites. 24 Instead, I will give the Levites the tenth as their share. It is the tenth that the Israelites bring me as an offering. That is why I said the Levites would not have any share of land among the Israelites.”
25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Speak to the Levites. Say to them, ‘You will receive the tenth from the Israelites. I will give it to you as your share. When I do, you must give a tenth of that tenth as an offering to the Lord. 27 Your offering will be considered as if you gave grain from a threshing floor. It will be considered as juice from a winepress. 28 In that way, you also will bring an offering to the Lord. You will bring it from the tenth you receive from the Israelites. You must give the Lord’s part to the priest Aaron. You must bring it from the tenth you receive. 29 You must bring to the Lord a part of everything given to you. It must be the best and holiest part.’
30 “Say to the Levites, ‘You must bring the best part. Then it will be considered as if you gave grain from a threshing floor. It will be considered as juice from a winepress. 31 You and your families can eat the rest of it anywhere. It is your pay for your work at the tent of meeting. 32 Bring the best part of what you receive. Then you will not be guilty of holding anything back. You will not make the holy offerings of the Israelites “unclean.” You will not die.’ ”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
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