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: and
thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
2: And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy
father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister
unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle
of witness.
3: And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all
the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and
the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.
4: And they shall be
joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for
all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.
5: And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of
the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
6: And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among
the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the
service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
7: Therefore thou and
thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar,
and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto
you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to
death.
8: And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given
thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the
children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and
to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.
9: This shall be thine of the
most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat
offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass
offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee
and for thy sons.
10: In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every
male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.
11: And this is thine;
the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of
Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with
thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of
it.
12: All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of
the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them
have I given thee.
13: And whatsoever is first ripe in the land,
which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in
thine house shall eat of it.
14: Every thing devoted in Israel shall
be thine.
15: Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which
they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine:
nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of
unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.
16: And those that are to be
redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for
the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty
gerahs.
17: But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep,
or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt
sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering
made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
18: And the flesh of
them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.
19: All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of
Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters
with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the
LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.
20: And the LORD spake unto
Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any
part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of
Israel.
21: And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the
tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the
service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
22: Neither must the
children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest
they bear sin, and die.
23: But the Levites shall do the service of
the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall
be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of
Israel they have no inheritance.
24: But the tithes of the children
of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to
the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of
Israel they shall have no inheritance.
25: And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying,
26: Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them,
When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from
them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for
the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.
27: And this your heave
offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the
threshingfloor, and as the fullness of the winepress.
28: Thus ye
also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye
receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD's heave
offering to Aaron the priest.
29: Out of all your gifts ye shall
offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the
hallowed part thereof out of it.
30: Therefore thou shalt say unto
them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted
unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of
the winepress.
31: And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your
households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the
congregation.
32: And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye
have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of
the children of Israel, lest ye die.