Numbers 18:8-19

The Voice

Eternal One (continuing to Aaron): ⁸ As for you in particular, everything people give to Me for all time, I put you in charge of and give to you and your sons as a priestly portion as a perpetual decree. ⁹ When anything the people give as an offering to Me isn’t burnt in its entirety, you will keep it—as the most holy items from the grain offerings, the sin or guilt offerings. All of this is most sacred to you and your sons. ¹⁰ While recognizing its holiness, you and every Levite male should go ahead and eat it in the most holy place. ¹¹ Also, I am giving as a perpetual decree to you, your sons and daughters, too, whatever people raise up in offering to Me. Whoever is ritually pure from your house may eat from those offerings. ¹² That includes, of course, the very best items—oil, wine, grain, and produce. Whatever people bring by way of offerings to Me, I give to you. ^13-14 The first of the harvest and anything which is set aside for Me shall be yours; any in your family can eat from it, so long as he or she is ritually pure. ^15-16 Likewise, the firstborn of men or animals, which are of course Mine, I hereby pass on to you. For the firstborn sons and ritually unclean animals should not be sacrificed; rather the people should simply pay five coins (calculated as the value of a one-month-old), each worth the two ounces (according to the sanctuary standard). ¹⁷ As for the other animals, the firstborn of a cow, a sheep, or a goat, you shall carry through on their sacrifice. They are indeed holy to Me. Make sure to throw some of their blood on the altar and incinerate their fat because it is to Me a soothing aroma. ¹⁸ You can have the meat itself, though, just as you get to have the breast of an uplifted offering and the right thigh too. ¹⁹ Everything sanctified and offered by the Israelites to Me, I am giving to you and your sons and your daughters as a perpetual decree. This is a binding agreement for all time—a covenant of salt, made in the presence of Me and preserved for you and your descendants after you.