Deuteronomy 18:1-8

English Standard Version

Provision for Priests and Levites

18 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, ^(A)shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They ^(B)shall eat the Lord's food offerings^[a] as their^[b] inheritance. ² They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. ³ And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: ^(C)they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. ^4 (D)The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵ For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes ^(E)to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.

⁶ “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, ^(F)where he lives—and he may come when he desires^[c]—^(G)to the place that the Lord will choose, ⁷ and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, ^(H)like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, ⁸ then he may have equal ^(I)portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.^[d]