Numbers 18
EasyEnglish Bible
The work of the priests and the Levites
18 The Lord said to Aaron, ‘You and your sons and your family will be guilty for any wrong thing that happens in my Holy Tent. You and your sons will be guilty for any wrong thing that a priest does. 2 Bring the people of your tribe, the Levites, to the Tent of Meeting. 3 They must take care of the Tent of Meeting on your behalf. You must tell them what they should do. They must not go near anything that is inside God's Holy Place or the altar. If they do, they will die, and you will die too. 4 The Levites must work with you as they take care of the Tent of Meeting. No other people have authority to come near you as you work there.
5 You must take care of God's Holy Place and the altar. Then I will not be angry with the Israelites again. 6 I have chosen your family, the Levites, from among the other Israelite tribes. They are the Lord's gift to you, to help you take care of the Tent of Meeting. 7 But only you, Aaron, and your sons will serve me as priests. You will work at the altar and in the Holy Place behind the curtain. I have chosen you to serve me as my priests. That is my gift to you. Any other person who comes near the Holy Place must die.’
Offerings for priests and for Levites
8 The Lord said to Aaron, ‘I give you authority over the things that people offer to me. As priests, part of the gifts that people bring will belong to you and your sons. This rule will always be true for you and your descendants. 9 I am giving to you the parts that do not burn on the altar. A part of all these gifts will belong to you: grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. These are holy gifts and they belong to you and to your sons. 10 All the men in your family may eat these gifts. Remember that they are holy gifts.
11 Also, you will receive part of the special gifts that the Israelites lift up in front of me. I have given it to you and to your sons and daughters, for all time. Every person who lives in your house may eat it. But they must be clean at the time.
12 I will give to you the best olive oil, the best wine and the best grain. The people give to the Lord the first part of these that they get. 13 I also give to you the best parts of the food that people bring to the Lord. Any clean person who lives in your house may eat them.
14 Everything in Israel that should belong to me is now yours. 15 I give to you every firstborn animal and male child that people offer to the Lord. But you must pay the price for every firstborn son and for every firstborn male animal that is not clean. 16 When they are one month old, you must buy them from me for five shekels of silver each. The shekel must have the same weight as the shekel that the Levites use in God's Holy Tent. There are 20 gerahs in one shekel.
17 You must not pay for the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat. Those animals are holy. Splash the blood from those animals on the altar and burn the fat from them. The smell will make the Lord happy. 18 And the meat of those animals belongs to you. In the same way, the meat of the ribs and the right back leg of the special gifts that you lift up to me also belong to you.[a]
19 I have given all the gifts that the Israelites offer to the Lord to you, your sons and your daughters. That is a rule for all time. That is the Lord's special promise to you and to your descendants for all time.’
20 Then the Lord said to Aaron, ‘You priests and your descendants will have no land, like the other tribes do. You will not share in the things that they receive. I myself am the gift that you receive.
21 The Israelites give to me one tenth of everything that they receive. I will give it to the Levites because they serve me in the Tent of Meeting. 22 The other Israelites must not come near the Tent of Meeting again. If they do come near it, they will be guilty and then they will die. 23 Only the Levites must do the work in the Tent of Meeting. And if they do anything wrong there, they will be guilty. That will be a rule for you and for all your descendants. The Levites will not receive any land like the other Israelites do. 24 That is because I have given to the Levites the tithes that the Israelites offer to the Lord. I have told them, “You will not receive any land, like the other Israelites do.” I have given the tithes to them instead.’
25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 ‘You must say to the Levites, “You will receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given to you from them. I have not given any land to you. I have given the tithes to you instead. When you receive those tithes, you must offer one tenth of it to the Lord. That will be a tithe of the tithe. 27 This gift will be the same as when a farmer is giving grain or wine to me. It will be special. 28 So you will give something to the Lord from the tithes that you receive from the Israelites. You must give that part to Aaron the priest. 29 From all the gifts that the people give to you, you must make separate every offering that the Lord should have. The best part of each gift is the part that you must make separate for the Lord.”
30 You must say to the Levites, “After you have made the best part of the gift separate for the priests, the other part will belong to the Levites. That will be the grain and the wine that you receive for your food. 31 That is what you receive because you take care of the Tent of Meeting. You and your family may eat it anywhere that you choose. 32 You will not be guilty when you eat it. That is because you have offered the best part of it to God. But you must do that in the right way. The gifts that you receive from the Israelites are holy. If you do not do the right things with them, you will die.” ’
Footnotes
- 18:18 See Numbers 6:20.
Bamidbar 18
Orthodox Jewish Bible
18 And Hashem said unto Aharon, Thou and thy Banim and thy Bais Av with thee shall bear the avon (guilt) of the Mikdash; and thou and thy Banim with thee shall bear the avon of the kehunah of you [see Ya 3:1].
2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the Shevet Avicha, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee; while thou and thy Banim with thee are before the Ohel HaEdut.
3 And they shall stand your guard duty, and the duty of Kol HaOhel; only they shall not come near the Klei HaKodesh and the Mizbe’ach, that neither they, nor ye also, die.
4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and stand guard duty of the Ohel Mo’ed, for kol Avodat HaOhel; and a zar shall not encroach unto you.
5 And ye shall stand guard of HaKodesh, and stand guard of the Mizbe’ach; that there be no Ketzef (Wrath) any more upon the Bnei Yisroel.
6 And I, hinei, I Myself have taken your brethren the Levi’im from among the Bnei Yisroel; to you they are given as a mattanah (gift) to Hashem, to do the Avodat Ohel Mo’ed [see Ep 4:11].
7 Therefore thou and thy Banim with thee shall be shomer over your Kehunah with everything of the Mizbe’ach, and within the Parochet; and ye shall do the Avodas service: I have given your Kehunah unto you as an Avodas Mattanah; and the zar (unauthorized one) that shall encroach shall be put to death.
8 And Hashem spoke unto Aharon, Hinei, I also have given thee the charge of Mine terumot of kol Kadoshei Bnei Yisroel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the moshchah (kohen’s allotted portion), and to thy Banim, as a chok olam.
9 This shall be thine of the kodesh hakodashim, reserved from the eish; every korban of theirs, every minchah of theirs, and every chattat of theirs, and every asham of theirs which they shall render unto Me, shall be kodesh kodashim for thee and for thy Banim.
10 As the kodesh hakodashim shalt thou eat it; every zakhar shall eat it; it shall be kodesh unto thee.
11 And this is thine; the terumah of their gift, with all the tenufot Bnei Yisroel; I have given them unto thee, and to thy banim and to thy banot with thee, by a chok olam; every one that is tahor in thy Bais shall eat of it.
12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the grain, the reshit (firstfruit) of them which they shall offer unto Hashem, them have I given thee.
13 And whatsoever is Bikkurim in the land, which they shall bring unto Hashem, shall be thine; every one that is tahor in thine Bais shall eat of it.
14 Every cherem in Yisroel shall be thine.
15 Every thing that openeth the womb in all basar, which they bring unto Hashem, whether it be of adam or behemah, shall be thine; nevertheless the bechor haadam shalt thou surely redeem, and the bechor habehemah hateme’ah shalt thou redeem.
16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine evaluation, for the five silver shekelim, according to the shekel HaKodesh, which is twenty gerah.
17 But the bechor of a cow, or the bechor of a sheep, or the bechor of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are kodesh; thou shalt sprinkle their dahm upon the Mizbe’ach, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by eish, for a re’ach nichoach unto Hashem.
18 And the basar of them shall be thine, like the breast of the tenufah and like the right thigh are thine.
19 All the terumot hakodashim, which the Bnei Yisroel offer unto Hashem, have I given thee, and thy banim and thy banot with thee, by a chok olam; it is a brit melach olam before Hashem unto thee and to thy zera with thee.
20 And Hashem spoke unto Aharon, Thou shalt have no nachalah in their land, neither shalt thou have any chelek among them; I am thy chelek and thine nachalah among the Bnei Yisroel.
21 And, hinei, I have given the Bnei Levi all the ma’aser (tithe) in Yisroel for a nachalah, for their Avodah which they serve, even the Avodat Ohel Mo’ed.
22 Neither must the Bnei Yisroel henceforth come near the Ohel Mo’ed, lest they bear chet, and die.
23 But the Levi’im shall perform the Avodat Ohel Mo’ed, lest they shall nasa (bear) their avon; it shall be a chukkat olam throughout your derot, that among the Bnei Yisroel they have no nachalah.
24 But the ma’aser of the Bnei Yisroel, which they offer as a terumah unto Hashem, I have given to the Levi’im as a nachalah; therefore, I have said unto them, Among the Bnei Yisroel they shall have no nachalah.
25 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
26 Thus speak unto the Levi’im, and say unto them, When ye take of the Bnei Yisroel the ma’aser which I have given you from them for your nachalah, then ye shall raise up a terumah of it for Hashem, even a ma’aser of the ma’aser.
27 And this your terumah shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fulness of the winepress.
28 Thus ye also shall offer a terumat Hashem of all your ma’aserot, which ye receive of the Bnei Yisroel; and ye shall give thereof terumat Hashem to Aharon HaKohen.
29 Out of all your mattenot ye shall offer every terumat Hashem, of all the best thereof, even the set apart as kodesh part thereof out of it.
30 Therefore, thou shalt say unto them, When ye have raised up the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levi’im as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.
31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your Bais: for it is your sachar for your Avodah in the Ohel Mo’ed.
32 And ye shall bear no chet by reason of it, when ye have raised up from it the best of it; neither shall ye desecrate the Kadshei Bnei Yisroel, lest ye die.
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