The duties of the priests and Levites

18 Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and the other members of your father’s family are the ones ◄who will be punished/whom I will punish► if anything bad happens to the things inside the Sacred Tent. But only you and your sons will be punished if the priests do something bad. 2 Require that those who belong to your tribe, the tribe of Levi, must assist you and your sons while you perform your work at the Sacred Tent. 3 But while they do that work, they must not go near the sacred items inside the tent or near the altar. If they do that, they will die, and you will die, too! 4 They may assist you in doing all the work to take care of the Sacred Tent, but no one else is permitted to come near the place where you are working.

5 “You are the ones who will do the sacred work inside the Sacred Tent and at the altar. If you obey these instructions, I will not become very angry with the Israeli people again. 6 I myself have chosen the descendants of Levi from the other Israelis in order that they may be your special helpers. They are like a gift that I have given you to work at the Sacred Tent. 7 But it is you and your sons, who are the priests, who must perform all the rituals concerning the altar and with what happens inside the Very Holy Place. I am giving to you this work of serving as priests. So anyone else who tries to do that work must be executed.”