20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. (A)I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

21 (B)“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 (C)so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, (D)lest they bear sin and die. 23 But (E)the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, (F)and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which (G)they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance (H)among the people of Israel.”

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Land Prohibited to Descendants of Levi

20 Then the Lord instructed Aaron, “You are not to have any inheritance in the land, nor are you to have any portion among the people.[a] I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelis. 21 As to the descendants of Levi, certainly I’ve given all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for their services that they perform at the Tent of Meeting. 22 Therefore, the Israelis need no longer come to the Tent of Meeting, so they won’t suffer the consequences of their sin and die. 23 The descendants of Levi are to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting and they are to bear their iniquity. This is to be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that they are not to receive an inheritance among the Israelis, 24 because I’ve given to the descendants of Levi the tithes that the Israelis bring to the Lord as raised offering. Therefore I told them that, unlike the Israelis, they won’t receive an inheritance.”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 18:20 Lit. among them