1And the LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear the guilt of the sanctuary. And you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt of your priesthood."
2"Bring with you also your brothers of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father. They shall be joined to you and shall serve you. But you and your sons with you shall serve before the tabernacle of witness."
3"They shall keep what you give them to do, and care for all the tabernacle. Only they must not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, so that they do not die, and you do not die either."
4"They shall be joined to you and keep charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the work of the tabernacle. No stranger shall come near you."
5"You shall keep charge of the sanctuary and charge of the altar, so that there is no more wrath on the children of Israel."
6"Look, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel. They are given to you as a gift for the LORD, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation."
7"So you and your sons with you shall keep your priest's office for everything of the altar and inside the veil, and you shall serve there. I have given you your priest's office as a gift of service. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death."
8And the LORD spoke to Aaron, "Look, I have also given you charge of my heave offerings, of all the holy things of the children of Israel. I have given them to you because of the anointing, and to your sons, as a law for ever."
9"This shall be yours of the most holy things, kept back from the fire: every offering of theirs, every food offering of theirs, every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they give back to me. They shall be most holy for you and for your sons."
10"You shall eat it in the most holy place. Every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you."
11"And this is yours: the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a law for ever. Everyone in your house who is clean may 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 offer to the LORD, I have given to you."
13"And whatever is first ripe in the land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone in your house who is clean may eat of it."
14"Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours."
15"Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the LORD, whether of people or animals, shall be yours. But you must certainly redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals."
16"Those that are to be redeemed you shall redeem from a month old, at the price you set, the money of five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs."
17"But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the LORD."
18"And their flesh shall be yours, just as the wave breast and the right shoulder are yours."
19"All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a law for ever. It is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD, for you and for your descendants with you."
20And the LORD spoke to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, and you shall have no share among them. I am your share and your inheritance among the children of Israel."
21"Look, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel as an inheritance, for the work they do, the work of the tabernacle of the congregation."
22"From now on the children of Israel must not come near the tabernacle of the congregation, or they will bear sin and die."
23"But the Levites shall do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their guilt. It shall be a law for ever through all your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance."
24"For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit. That is why I have said to them, 'Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.'"
25And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
26"Speak 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 a heave offering of it for the LORD, a tenth part of the tithe.'"
27"'And this heave offering of yours shall be counted for you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and the full yield of the winepress.'"
28"'So you also shall offer a heave offering to the LORD from all your tithes, which you receive from the children of Israel. And from it you shall give the LORD's heave offering to Aaron the priest.'"
29"'Out of all your gifts you shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, out of all the best of it, the holy part of it.'"
30"Therefore you shall say to them, 'When you have lifted up the best of it, then it shall be counted for the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.'"
31"'And you may eat it in any place, you and your households. For it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.'"
32"'And you shall bear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. And you shall not make the holy things of the children of Israel unclean, or you will die.'"