Numbers 18

Tree of Life Version

Kohen Duties and Portions

18 Adonai said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and the house of your father with you will bear the guilt for the Sanctuary, and you and your sons will bear the guilt for your priesthood. ² Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join you and assist you, both you and your sons with you, before the Tent of the Testimony. ³ They are to perform their duties for you and for all matters related to the Tent. They must not approach the implements of the Sanctuary or the altar—otherwise, both you and they will die. ⁴ They are to team with you and attend to the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. But no unauthorized person may intrude upon you. ⁵ So you are to attend to the Sanctuary and the care of the altar, so no further wrath will fall on Bnei-Yisrael.

⁶ “See, I have personally taken your kinsmen, the Levites, from among Bnei-Yisrael as a gift for you and your sons with you, dedicated to Adonai to serve in the work of the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ But you and your sons with you are to maintain your priesthood for everything pertaining to the altar and inside the parokhet. I am giving you the ministry of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone unauthorized who approaches will die.”

⁸ Adonai then said to Aaron, “See, I have given you charge over all My offerings. All the sacred things from Bnei-Yisrael I have given to you as set aside for you and your sons as a permanent share. ⁹ You are to have the part of the most holy things that is kept from the fire. Whether grain, sin or guilt offerings that they bring to Me as most holy—they are for you and your sons. ¹⁰ You are to eat it as most holy. Every male may eat it—it is set apart for you. ¹¹ This also is yours: the gift of the wave offerings of Bnei-Yisrael. I have given all the wave offerings as a permanent share to you, your sons and your daughters. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ¹² All the finest olive oil, the finest new wine and grain they give to Adonai from their firstfruits, I have given them to you. ¹³ All the firstfruits of the land that they bring to Adonai will be for yours. Anyone who is clean in your house may eat it.

¹⁴ Every devoted thing in Israel is yours. ¹⁵ The first offspring of the womb from all flesh, whether human or animal, offered to Adonai, is yours. However, you are to redeem the firstborn of man and the firstborn of unclean animals. ¹⁶ When they are a month old, you are to redeem them at the redemption price of five shekels of silver by the Sanctuary shekel, or 20 gerahs. ¹⁷ But the firstborn of the ox, sheep or goat you are not to redeem. They are holy. You are to sprinkle their blood on the altar, and their fat you are to burn as a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to Adonai. ¹⁸ Their meat—the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh—is yours. ¹⁹ Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings which Bnei-Yisrael present to Adonai, I have given to you, your sons and your daughters with you as a permanent share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before Adonai for you and your offspring.”

²⁰ Adonai said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land nor share among them. I am your portion and your share among Bnei-Yisrael. ²¹ See, I have given all the tithes in Israel to the sons of Levi as an inheritance in return for all the work of the service they are doing in the Tent of Meeting. ²² From now on, Bnei-Yisrael must never trespass the Tent of Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and die. ²³ The Levites will perform the service of the Tent of Meeting. They will bear the responsibility for their iniquity. It is a permanent ordinance throughout your generations. So among Bnei-Yisrael they are to receive no inheritance.

²⁴ For I have given the tithes that Bnei-Yisrael present to Adonai as an offering to the Levites as an inheritance. That is why I said they would receive no inheritance among Bnei-Yisrael.”

²⁵ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ²⁶ “Speak now to the Levites and say to them: When you receive from Bnei-Yisrael the tithe which I have given to you as your inheritance, you are then to offer to Adonai a tithe of that tithe. ²⁷ Your offering will be reckoned as grain from the threshing floor or the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ Thus you will also present an offering to Adonai from all your tithes that you receive from Bnei-Yisrael, and from that you are to give Adonai’s portion to Aaron the kohen. ²⁹ From all your gifts that you receive, you are to present the best and holiest from them as Adonai’s portion.

³⁰ “Say to them: When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and of the winepress. ³¹ You and your household may eat it in any place. It is your wage for your service in the Tent of Meeting.

³² “In presenting the best part in this manner, you will bear no guilt in these matters. You will not defile the holy things of Bnei-Yisrael, so you will not die.”