Numbers 8:11-26

English Standard Version

¹¹and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord. ¹²Then the Levites ^(A)shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer ^(B)the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as ^(C)a wave offering to the Lord.

¹⁴“Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and ^(D)the Levites shall be mine. ¹⁵And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a ^(E)wave offering. ¹⁶For they are ^(F)wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. ^(G)Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. ¹⁷^(H)For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, ¹⁸and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel. ¹⁹^(I)And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and ^(J)to make atonement for the people of Israel, ^(K)that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

²⁰Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them. ²¹And ^(L)the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and ^(M)Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²²And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement of the Levites

²³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“This applies to the Levites: ^(N)from twenty-five years old and upward they^[a] shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. ²⁵And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. ²⁶They minister^[b] to their brothers in the tent of meeting ^(O)by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”