Numbers 18 The debts and rights of the priests, and the Levites

Numbers 18

The debts and rights of the priests, and the Levites

1 And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou, and thy sons, and thy father's house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary upon you: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood upon you.

2 And thou shalt bring with thee unto thy brethren the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, that they may come unto thee, and serve thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall stand before the tabernacle of witness.

3 And he shall be thy keeper, the keeper of all the tabernacle: but they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary, and to the altar, that they die not, both you and them.

4 But they shall be gathered unto thee, and shall keep the tabernacle of the congregation in all the service of the tabernacle; and the stranger shall not come near to you.

5 And ye shall do the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; lest there be wrath upon the children of Israel.

6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel: to you it is given as a gift from the Lord to minister the ministry of the tabernacle of the congregation.

7 But you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood in all the business of the altar, and in that which is in the veil, you shall administer: I have given your priesthood in a ministerial gift, and the stranger that comes near shall die.

8 And the LORD said unto Aaron, And I, behold, I have given thee the charge of my heave-offerings, with all the holy things of the children of Israel; because of the anointing I have given to you and to your children for a perpetual statute.

9 And you shall have of the most holy things of the fire: all your gifts, with all their meat offerings, and with all their atonement for sin, and with all their atonement for guilt, to give me back, shall be most holy to you, and for your children.

10 In the most holy place shalt thou eat it: every man shall eat it; holiness will be for you.

11 This also shall be thine; the heave-offering of his gifts, and all the offerings of the children of Israel; I have made them a perpetual statute for you, your sons, and your daughters with you ; everyone who is clean in your house shall eat them.

12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine and the corn, and the firstfruits of the firstfruits which I give to the LORD I have given to you.

13 The first fruits of all that are in the land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be thine;everyone who is clean in your house shall eat them.

14 All the consecrated things in Israel shall be yours.

15 Whosoever shall open the womb of all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, both of man and of beast, shall be thine; but the firstborn of men you shall redeem; and the firstlings of unclean animals shall you redeem.

16 And those who are to be redeemed from them, from the age of one month, according to your estimation, five shekels of money according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem: they shall be holy: thou shalt sprinkle its blood upon the altar, and its fat shalt thou burn with a burnt offering of a sweet savor unto the LORD.

18 And their flesh shall be thine, even as the breast of movement, and the right shoulder, shall be thine.

19 All the offerings of holiness, which the children of Israel shall offer unto the LORD, I have given unto thee, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a perpetual statute: a perpetual covenant of salt before the Lord is for thee and for your seed with you.

20 And the LORD said unto Aaron, In thy land thou shalt not possess any , and in the midst of them thou shalt have no part: I am thy portion, and thy inheritance among the children of Israel.

21 And behold, the children of Levi have given all the tithes of Israel for an inheritance, for their service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

22 And the children of Israel shall no more come near to the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.

23 But the Levites shall minister the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: for ever shall they be a statute throughout your generations , and in the midst of the children of Israel shall they inherit no inheritance.

24 For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they have offered to Jehovah for an heave offering, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: because I said unto them, Among the children of Israel shall they inherit no inheritance .

25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

26 And thou shalt speak unto the Levites, and thou shalt say unto them, When ye shall receive the tithes of the children of Israel, which I have given unto them of your inheritance, of them ye shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD; the tithes of tithes.

27 And your offering shall be told unto you, as the grain of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

28 And you shall offer to the LORD a heave offering of all your tithes, which you shall receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give them the heave-offering of the LORD to Aaron the priest.

29 Of all your gifts ye shall offer up all the heave-offering of Jehovah: of the best of them, his holy part.

30 And thou shalt say unto them, When ye shall offer the best of them, as the new thing of the winepress, the Levites shall be numbered.

31 And ye shall eat it in all place, ye and your house; for your reward is for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

32 Therefore you shall not bear sin over them, when you shall offer them the best; and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that ye die not.