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Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral house are to bear the responsibility for offences against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone will bear the responsibility for offences involving the priesthood. 2 Bring your brothers with you also from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the Tent of the Testimony. 3 They are to perform duties for you and for the whole Tent, but they must not go near the articles of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die. 4 They are to join you and attend to the needs of the Tent of Meeting, doing all the work at the Tent; but no unauthorized person may come near where you are.
5 “You will be responsible for the duties of the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again. 6 Behold, I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. 7 But only you and your sons may attend to the priestly duties for everything concerning the altar and the area inside the veil. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. However, any unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”
8 The Lord said to Aaron, “I Myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to Me. As for all the holy offerings of the Israelites, I give them to you and your sons as your portion and perpetual share. 9 You are to have the portion of the holy offerings kept from the fire. From every such offering they give to Me, whether it is a grain offering, a sin offering, or a guilt offering, that part will be most holy for you and your sons. 10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.
11 “This is also yours: the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give their contributions to you and your sons and daughters as a perpetual statute. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat them.
12 “I am also giving you all the best of the olive oil, and all the best of the new wine and grain they give the Lord as their firstfruits. 13 The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
14 “Everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord belongs to you. 15 The firstborn that opens the womb of every living thing, both man and animal, that is offered to the Lord belongs to you. But you must redeem the firstborn of man, and redeem the firstborn of unclean animals. 16 When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, measured according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.
17 “But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You must sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 18 But their meat belongs to you, just as the breast of a wave offering and the right thigh both belong to you. 19 All the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”
20 The Lord said to Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.
21 “Behold, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work that they perform, the work of the Tent of Meeting. 22 From now on the Israelites must not come near the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. 23 It is the Levites who will carry out the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they will be held responsible for offences against it. This will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites. 24 For I have given the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I have said to them, ‘Among the Israelites they will have no inheritance’.”
25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I give you as your inheritance, you must present an offering from it to the Lord—a tenth of the tithe. 27 Your offering will be reckoned to you as though it were grain from the threshing floor or the full harvest of the winepress. 28 In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. You are to also to give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. 29 You must present the best and most sacred part of every offering due to the Lord of all the gifts given to you.
30 “Tell them further: ‘When you have presented the best part of it, it will be reckoned to you Levites as the produce of the threshing floor or the winepress. 31 You and your households may eat the remainder of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting. 32 You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it. But you must not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, so you will not die’.”