Duties of Priests and Levites
1 Then theLordsaid to Aaron:“You and your sons and your father’s house with you shallbear the iniquityrelatedtothe sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquityassociatedwithyour priesthood.
2 Also bring with you your brethren of thetribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may bejoined with you and serve you while you and your sonsarewith you before the tabernacle of witness.
3 They shall attend to your needs andall the needs of the tabernacle;but they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary and the altar,lest they die—they and you also.
4 They shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, for all the work of the tabernacle;but an outsider shall not come near you.
5 And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary andthe duties of the altar,that theremaybe no more wrath on the children of Israel.
6 Behold, I Myself havetaken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel;theyarea gift to you, given by theLord, to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting.
7 Thereforeyou and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar andbehind the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthoodtoyouas agift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
Offerings for Support of the Priests
8 And theLordspoke to Aaron: “Here,I Myself have also given you charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given themas a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever.
9 This shall be yours of the most holy thingsreservedfrom the fire: every offering of theirs, everygrain offering and everysin offering and everytrespass offering which they render to Me,shallbemost holy for you and your sons.
10 In a most holyplaceyou shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.
11 “This alsoisyours:the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever.Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
12 “All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain,their firstfruits which they offer to theLord, I have given them to you.
13 Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land,which they bring to theLord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
14 “Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
15 “Everything that first opensthe womb of all flesh, which they bring to theLord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, andthe firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.
16 And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old,according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, whichistwenty gerahs.
17 But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; theyareholy.You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fatasan offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to theLord.
18 And their flesh shall be yours, just as thewave breast and the right thigh are yours.
19 “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to theLord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever;itisa covenant of salt forever before theLordwith you and your descendants with you.”
20 Then theLordsaid to Aaron: “You shall haveno inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them;Iamyour portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.
Tithes for Support of the Levites
21 “Behold,I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform,the work of the tabernacle of meeting.
22 Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting,lest they bear sin and die.
23 But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity;itshallbea statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
24 For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer upasa heave offering to theLord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”
The Tithe of the Levites
25 Then theLordspoke to Moses, saying,
26 “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to theLord,a tenth of the tithe.
27 And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as thoughitwerethe grain of thethreshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress.
28 Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to theLordfrom all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give theLord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest.
29 Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to theLord, from all the best of them, the consecrated part of them.’
30 Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, thentherestshall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress.
31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for itisyour reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting.
32 And you shallbear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall notprofane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.’ ”