Numbers 18
Christian Standard Bible
Provision for the Priesthood
18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral family[a](A) will be responsible for iniquity against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for iniquity involving your priesthood. 2 But also bring your relatives with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony.(B) 3 They are to perform duties for you and for the whole tent. They must not come near the sanctuary equipment or the altar; otherwise, both they and you will die. 4 They are to join you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no unauthorized person may come near you.
5 “You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.(C) 6 Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you, assigned by the Lord to work at the tent of meeting. 7 But you and your sons will carry out your priestly responsibilities(D) for everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the curtain, and you will do that work. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift,[b] but an unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary will be put to death.”(E)
Support for the Priests and Levites
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions(F) brought to me. As for all the holy offerings(G) of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.(H) 9 A portion of the holiest offerings kept from the fire will be yours; every one of their offerings that they give me, whether the grain offering, sin offering, or guilt offering will be most holy for you and your sons. 10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering.[c] Every male may eat it; it is to be holy to you.
11 “The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites’ presentation offerings(I) to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute.(J) Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it. 12 I am giving you all the best of the fresh oil, new wine, and grain,(K) which the Israelites give to the Lord as their firstfruits.(L) 13 The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, belong to you. Every clean person in your house may eat them.
14 “Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated to the Lord(M) belongs to you. 15 The firstborn of every living thing, human or animal, presented to the Lord belongs to you. But you must certainly redeem a human firstborn,(N) and redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal. 16 You will pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your assessment: five shekels[d] of silver by the standard sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.(O)
17 “However, you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to splatter their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a food offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 But their meat belongs to you. It belongs to you like the breast of the presentation offering and the right thigh.
19 “I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the Lord as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt(P) before the Lord for you as well as your offspring.”
20 The Lord told Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land; there will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.(Q)
21 “Look, I have given the Levites every tenth(R) in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the work of the tent of meeting. 22 The Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. 23 The Levites will do the work of the tent of meeting, and they will bear the consequences of their iniquity. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites;(S) this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. 24 For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the Lord as a contribution for their inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”
25 The Lord instructed Moses, 26 “Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you are to present part of it as an offering to the Lord—a tenth of the tenth. 27 Your offering will be credited to you as if it were your grain from the threshing floor or the full harvest from the winepress. 28 You are to present an offering to the Lord from every tenth you receive from the Israelites. Give some of it to the priest Aaron as an offering to the Lord. 29 You must present the entire offering due the Lord from all your gifts. The best part of the tenth(T) is to be consecrated.
30 “Tell them further: Once you have presented the best part of the tenth, and it is credited to you Levites as the produce of the threshing floor or the winepress, 31 then you and your household may eat it anywhere. It is your wage in return for your work at the tent of meeting. 32 You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites’ holy offerings, so that you will not die.”
Numbers 18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Responsibility of Priests and Levites
18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your ancestral house with you shall bear responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, while you and your sons alone shall bear responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood.(A) 2 So bring with you also your brothers of the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, in order that they may be joined to you and serve you while you and your sons with you are in front of the tent of the covenant.(B) 3 They shall perform duties for you and for the whole tent. But they must not approach either the utensils of the sanctuary or the altar, or else both they and you will die.(C) 4 They are attached to you in order to perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; no outsider shall approach you.(D) 5 You yourselves shall perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, so that wrath may never again come upon the Israelites.(E) 6 It is I who now take your brother Levites from among the Israelites; they are now yours as a gift, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service of the tent of meeting.(F) 7 But you and your sons with you shall diligently perform your priestly duties in all that concerns the altar and the area behind the curtain. I give your priesthood as a gift;[a] any outsider who approaches shall be put to death.”(G)
The Priests’ Portion
8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “I have given you charge of the offerings made to me, all the holy gifts of the Israelites; I have given them to you and your sons as a priestly portion due you in perpetuity.(H) 9 This shall be yours from the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs that they render to me as a most holy thing, whether grain offering, purification offering, or guilt offering, shall belong to you and your sons.(I) 10 As a most holy thing you shall eat it; every male may eat it; it shall be holy to you.(J) 11 This also is yours: I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due, whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the elevation offerings of the Israelites; everyone who is clean in your house may eat them.(K) 12 All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the choice produce that they give to the Lord, I have given to you.(L) 13 The first fruits of all that is in their land that they bring to the Lord shall be yours; everyone who is clean in your house may eat of it.(M) 14 Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.(N) 15 The first issue of the womb of all creatures, human and animal, that is offered to the Lord shall be yours, but the firstborn of human beings you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.(O) 16 Their redemption price, reckoned from one month of age, you shall fix at five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary (that is, twenty gerahs).(P) 17 But the firstborn of a cow or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall dash their blood on the altar and turn their fat into smoke as an offering by fire[b] for a pleasing odor to the Lord,(Q) 18 but their flesh shall be yours, just as the breast that is elevated and as the right thigh are yours. 19 All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the Lord I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and your descendants as well.”(R) 20 Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no allotment in their land, nor shall you have any share among them; I am your share and your possession among the Israelites.(S)
21 “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for a possession in return for the service that they perform, the service in the tent of meeting.(T) 22 From now on the Israelites shall no longer approach the tent of meeting, or else they will incur guilt and die.(U) 23 But the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear responsibility for their own offenses; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. But among the Israelites they shall have no allotment,(V) 24 because I have given to the Levites as their portion the tithe of the Israelites, which they set apart as an offering to the Lord. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no allotment among the Israelites.”
25 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You shall say to the Levites: When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them for your portion, you shall set apart an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.(W) 27 It shall be reckoned to you as your gift, the same as the grain of the threshing floor and the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you also shall set apart an offering to the Lord from all the tithes that you receive from the Israelites, and from them you shall give the Lord’s offering to the priest Aaron.(X) 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall set apart every offering due to the Lord; the best of all of them is the part to be consecrated. 30 Say also to them: When you have set apart the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor and as produce of the winepress. 31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your payment for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 You shall incur no guilt by reason of it, when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy gifts of the Israelites, on pain of death.”(Y)
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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.