1And Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear the iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity connected with your priesthood.
2And also your kinsmen, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring near with you, that they may join themselves to you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.
3They shall keep your charge and the charge of the whole tent; only they shall not come near the vessels of the holy place or the altar, lest they die — both they and you.
4They shall join themselves to you and keep the charge of the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, but a stranger shall not come near you.
5You shall keep the charge of the holy place and the charge of the altar, so that wrath may no longer come upon the sons of Israel.
6And I — behold, I have taken your kinsmen the Levites from among the sons of Israel; to you they are a gift, given to Yahweh to do the service of the tent of meeting.
7But you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and within the veil, and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift of service, and the stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
8And Yahweh spoke to Aaron: “Behold, I myself have given you charge of my contributions; of all the holy things of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion, and to your sons as a perpetual statute.
9This shall be yours of the most holy things, kept from the fire: every offering of theirs — every grain offering of theirs, every sin offering of theirs, and every guilt offering of theirs — which they render to me, is most holy for you and for your sons.
10As a most holy thing you shall eat it; every male may eat it. It shall be holy to you.
11And this is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual statute. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
12All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they give to Yahweh — I give them to you.
13The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
14Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
15Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh, which they present to Yahweh — of man and of beast — shall be yours. Only you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of the unclean beast you shall redeem.
16Its redemption price: from a month old you shall redeem, according to your valuation, five shekels of silver by the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
17But the firstborn of an ox, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. Their blood you shall dash against the altar, and their fat you shall turn to smoke as a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to Yahweh.
18And their flesh shall be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and like the right thigh, it shall be yours.
19All the contributions of the holy things which the sons of Israel raise up to Yahweh I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual statute. It is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh for you and for your offspring with you.”
20And Yahweh said to Aaron, “In their land you shall have no inheritance, and no portion shall be yours among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.
21And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given every tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for their service that they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.
22And the sons of Israel shall no longer come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.
23But the Levite himself shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
24For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they raise up to Yahweh as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them that among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.”
25And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
26“You shall speak to the Levites and say to them: When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, you shall raise up from it a contribution to Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.
27And your contribution shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain from the threshing floor and as the fullness from the winepress.
28So you also shall raise up a contribution to Yahweh from all your tithes that you take from the sons of Israel, and from it you shall give Yahweh’s contribution to Aaron the priest.
29From all your gifts you shall raise up every contribution due to Yahweh, from all its best, its consecrated portion from it.
30And you shall say to them: When you raise up the best of it from it, it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress.
31And you may eat it in any place, you and your household, for it is a wage for you in return for your service in the tent of meeting.
32And you will bear no sin over it when you have lifted up its best part from it; and you must not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, so that you do not die.
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