^6 (A)“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

⁴ So shall you know that I have sent ^(A)this command to you, that ^(B)my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts.

⁸ And ^(A)of Levi he said,

⁸ At that time ^(A)the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ^(B)to carry 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.

Duties of Priests and Levites

18 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father's house with you shall ^(A)bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, ^(B)and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. ² And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may ^(C)join you and ^(D)minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. ³ They shall keep guard over you and ^(E)over the whole tent, ^(F)but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar ^(G)lest they, and you, die. ⁴ They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, ^(H)and no outsider shall come near you. ⁵ And you shall ^(I)keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, ^(J)that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. ^6 (K)And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. ^(L)They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. ⁷ And ^(M)you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and ^(N)that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift,^[a] and ^(O)any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

⁹ is it ^(A)too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has ^(B)separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰ and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is ^(C)Aaron that you grumble against him?”

⁶ “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. ⁷ Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the ^(A)water of purification upon them, and ^(B)let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. ⁸ Then let them take a bull from the herd and ^(C)its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, ^(D)and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering. ^9 (E)And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting ^(F)and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel. ¹⁰ When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel ^(G)shall lay their hands on the Levites, ¹¹ and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord. ¹² Then the Levites ^(H)shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer ^(I)the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³ And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as ^(J)a wave offering to the Lord.

¹⁴ “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and ^(K)the Levites shall be mine. ¹⁵ And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a ^(L)wave offering. ¹⁶ For they are ^(M)wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. ^(N)Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. ^17 (O)For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, ¹⁸ and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel. ^19 (P)And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and ^(Q)to make atonement for the people of Israel, ^(R)that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

²⁰ Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them. ²¹ And ^(S)the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and ^(T)Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²² And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement of the Levites

²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “This applies to the Levites: ^(U)from twenty-five years old and upward they^[a] shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. ²⁵ And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. ²⁶ They minister^[b] to their brothers in the tent of meeting ^(V)by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”

³³ But ^(A)the Levites were not listed among the people of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.

^17 (A)“Then the tent of meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; as they camp, so shall they set out, each in position, standard by standard.