At that time (A)the Lord [a]separated the tribe of Levi (B)to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, (C)to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and (D)to bless in His name, to this day.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 10:8 set apart

Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for (A)the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; (B)by their word every controversy and every [a]assault shall be settled.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit. stroke

For (A)the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes (B)to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

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15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then (A)the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; (B)but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.

(C)These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

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Is it (A)a small thing to you that the God of Israel has (B)separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to serve them; 10 and that He has brought you near to Himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking the priesthood also?

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23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

24 “The Lord (A)bless you and (B)keep you;
25 The Lord (C)make His face shine upon you,
And (D)be gracious to you;
26 (E)The Lord [a]lift up His countenance upon you,
And (F)give you peace.” ’

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 6:26 Look upon you with favor

(A)“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.

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16 (A)You did not choose Me, but I chose you and (B)appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father (C)in My name He may give you.

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The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

19 Therefore thus says the Lord:

(A)“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall (B)stand before Me;
If you (C)take out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.
Let them return to you,
But you must not return to them.

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27 Then the priests, the Levites, arose and (A)blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to (B)His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

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26 And so it was, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams.

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12 He said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; [a]sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. 13 For (A)because you did not do it the first time, (B)the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him [b]about the proper order.”

14 So the priests and the Levites [c]sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. 15 And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as (C)Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 15:12 consecrate
  2. 1 Chronicles 15:13 regarding the ordinance
  3. 1 Chronicles 15:14 consecrated

Duties of Priests and Levites

18 Then the Lord said to Aaron: (A)“You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall (B)bear the [a]iniquity related to the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood. Also bring with you your brethren of the (C)tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be (D)joined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the tabernacle of [b]witness. They shall attend to your [c]needs and (E)all the needs of the tabernacle; (F)but they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary and the altar, (G)lest they die—they and you also. They shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, for all the work of the tabernacle; (H)but an outsider shall not come near you. And you shall attend to (I)the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, (J)that there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel. Behold, I Myself have (K)taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel; (L)they are a gift to you, given by the Lord, to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Therefore (M)you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and (N)behind the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a (O)gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

Offerings for Support of the Priests

And the Lord spoke to Aaron: “Here, (P)I Myself have also given you [d]charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them (Q)as a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every (R)grain offering and every (S)sin offering and every (T)trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. 10 (U)In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

11 “This also is yours: (V)the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. (W)Everyone who is [e]clean in your house may eat it.

12 (X)“All the [f]best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, (Y)their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you. 13 Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, (Z)which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.

14 (AA)“Every [g]devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

15 “Everything that first opens (AB)the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless (AC)the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, (AD)according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is (AE)twenty gerahs. 17 (AF)But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. (AG)You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. 18 And their flesh shall be yours, just as the (AH)wave[h] breast and the right thigh are yours.

19 “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; (AI)it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”

20 Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have (AJ)no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; (AK)I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

Tithes for Support of the Levites

21 “Behold, (AL)I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as [i]an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, (AM)the work of the tabernacle of meeting. 22 (AN)Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, (AO)lest they bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites [j]as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

The Tithe of the Levites

25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, (AP)a tenth of the tithe. 27 And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the (AQ)threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. 29 Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord, from all the [k]best of them, the consecrated part of them.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. 31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is (AR)your [l]reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting. 32 And you shall (AS)bear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall not (AT)profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.’ ”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 18:1 guilt
  2. Numbers 18:2 testimony
  3. Numbers 18:3 service
  4. Numbers 18:8 custody
  5. Numbers 18:11 purified
  6. Numbers 18:12 Lit. fat
  7. Numbers 18:14 consecrated
  8. Numbers 18:18 breast of the wave offering
  9. Numbers 18:21 a possession
  10. Numbers 18:24 for a possession
  11. Numbers 18:29 Lit. fat
  12. Numbers 18:31 wages

47 But (A)the Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe; 48 for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying: 49 (B)“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel; 50 (C)but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it (D)and camp around the tabernacle. 51 (E)And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it (F)up. (G)The outsider who comes near shall be put to death. 52 The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, (H)everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies; 53 (I)but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no (J)wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall (K)keep[a] charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 1:53 have in their care

22 Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, (A)blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings.

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Aaron and His Sons Consecrated(A)

29 “And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: (B)Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, and (C)unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams.

“And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, (D)and you shall wash them with water. (E)Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with (F)the intricately woven band of the ephod. (G)You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. And you shall take the anointing (H)oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. Then (I)you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. (J)The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall (K)consecrate Aaron and his sons.

10 “You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and (L)Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on (M)the horns of the altar with your finger, and (N)pour all the blood beside the base of the altar. 13 And (O)you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But (P)the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

15 (Q)“You shall also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall (R)put their hands on the head of the ram; 16 and you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and (S)sprinkle it all around on the altar. 17 Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head. 18 And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a (T)burnt offering to the Lord; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

19 (U)“You shall also take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram. 20 Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. 21 And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of (V)the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and (W)he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

22 “Also you shall take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), 23 (X)one loaf of bread, one cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord; 24 and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall (Y)wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. 25 (Z)You shall receive them back from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord.

26 “Then you shall take (AA)the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion. 27 And from the ram of the consecration you shall consecrate (AB)the breast of the wave offering which is waved, and the thigh of the heave offering which is raised, of that which is for Aaron and of that which is for his sons. 28 It shall be from the children of Israel for Aaron and his sons (AC)by a statute forever. For it is a heave offering; (AD)it shall be a heave offering from the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, that is, their heave offering to the Lord.

29 “And the (AE)holy garments of Aaron (AF)shall be his sons’ after him, (AG)to be anointed in them and to be consecrated in them. 30 (AH)That son who becomes priest in his place shall put them on for (AI)seven days, when he enters the tabernacle of meeting to minister in the [a]holy place.

31 “And you shall take the ram of the consecration and (AJ)boil its flesh in the holy place. 32 Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the (AK)bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 33 (AL)They shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; (AM)but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then (AN)you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 “Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. (AO)Seven days you shall consecrate them. 36 And you (AP)shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. (AQ)You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. (AR)Whatever touches the altar must be holy.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 29:30 sanctuary

15 But when it pleased God, (A)who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,

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17 Therefore

(A)“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”

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or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; (A)he who teaches, in teaching;

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Greeting

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, (A)called to be an apostle, (B)separated to the gospel of God

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As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, (A)“Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work (B)to which I have called them.”

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15 (A)“But the priests, the Levites, (B)the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary (C)when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they (D)shall stand before Me to offer to Me the (E)fat and the blood,” says the Lord God.

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11 Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, (A)as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; (B)they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and (C)they shall stand before them to minister to them.

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(A)You who stand in the house of the Lord,
In (B)the courts of the house of our God,

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(A)Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
And bless the Lord.

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