UST NUM Chapter 18

The duties of the priests and Levites

18 Yahweh told Aaron, “I will punish you, your descendants, and the rest of the descendants of Kohath when someone does something wrong concerning the things that belong in the sacred tent. I will punish only you and your descendants when someone does something wrong when they act as a priest. 2 Summon your fellow Levites, who belong to your ancestral tribe. They will work for you and help you while you and your descendants act as priests at the sacred tent. 3 They must guard you and the whole sacred tent. However, they must not approach the equipment for the sacred tent or the altar. That way, they will not die, and neither will you. 4 They will work for you and will guard the sacred tent as they set it up and take it down. Anyone who is not a Levite must not approach where you are working.

5 You and the rest of the priests must guard the things that belong in the sacred tent and the altar. That way, I will not be angry with the Israelites again. 6 Out of all the Israelites, I myself have appointed your fellow Levites. They belong to me, and I am giving them to you and the rest of the priests. They will set up and take down the sacred tent. 7 You and your descendants must make sure that no one else serves as a priest. That includes everything that involves the altar and the Most Holy Place behind the curtain. You must set up and take down these parts of the sacred tent. I am appointing you to be priests who set up and take down these things, and the rest of the Israelites will pay you for doing that. If anyone who is not a Levite approaches the sacred tent, someone must execute that person.”

8 Yahweh told Aaron, “I myself am putting you in charge of all the sacred things that the Israelites give to me. I give these sacred things to you and to your sons for you to use. This is a permanent rule. 9 The parts of the most sacred offerings that you do not burn will be yours. That includes grain offerings, purifying offerings, and restoring sacrifices that they present to me. These most sacred offerings belong to you and your descendants. 10 You must eat these sacred offerings in a very sacred place. Every man who is a priest may eat them. They are sacred and belong to you. 11 In addition, the Israelites give me special contributions by having a priest hold them up. I am giving those special contributions to you and to your male and female descendants. This is a permanent rule. Every person in your household who is pure may eat them.

12 The Israelites present to me some of their first batches of fresh olive oil and fresh wine and grain. I give all these things to you. 13 They will present to me some of the first batches of everything that they grow in the place where they will live. All those things belong to you. Every person in your household who is pure may eat them.

14 Everything that any Israelites permanently dedicate to me will belong to you. 15 The Israelites dedicate every oldest male child and farm animal to me. Those people and things belong to you. However, sometimes the oldest male is a human or an impure animal. In those cases, you will receive money instead of the child or animal. 16 When you receive money instead of the child or animal, you must calculate the amount of money when the child or animal is one month old. You must receive five pieces of silver. You must use the same kind of pieces of silver that the priests use in the sacred tent. Each of these pieces of silver weighs about 11 grams.

17 However, you must not receive money instead of any oldest male bull, sheep, or goat. That is because they are sacred. You must splatter their blood on the altar. You must burn their fat in a way that causes smoke to go up. When you burn these offerings, I will enjoy the smell of the smoke. 18 Their meat will belong to you, just as the breast meat that the priest holds up in Yahweh’s presence and the right thigh meat belong to you. 19 Whenever the Israelites dedicate any special and sacred contribution to me, I give it to you and to your male and female descendants. This is a permanent rule. It is a permanent agreement that I am making with you and your descendants.

20 Yahweh told Aaron, “You will not receive any land like the rest of the Israelites will. Instead of receiving land, you will act as priests for me among the Israelites. 21 Listen, I assign to the Levites one tenth of all the produce and animals that belong to the Israelites. That is what they will receive instead of land in return for setting up and taking down the sacred tent. 22 The other Israelites must never approach the sacred tent. Otherwise, I will punish them for what they did wrong, and they will die. 23 Each Levite must set up and take down the sacred tent. I will punish only the Levites for anything they do wrong concerning the sacred tent. This is a permanent rule for you and all your descendants. So, the Levites will not receive any land like the rest of the Israelites will. 24 That is because I am giving something to the Levites instead of land. I am giving them one tenth of all the produce and animals that belong to the Israelites, which they dedicate to me as a special contribution. Because of that, I have told the Levites, ‘You will not receive any land like the rest of the Israelites will.’ ”

25 Yahweh told Moses, 26 “Tell the Levites that they will receive from the Israelites one tenth of all their produce and animals. I am giving those things to the Levites instead of land. When they receive that one tenth of produce and animals, they must dedicate one tenth of those things to me as a special contribution. 27 When they dedicate that special contribution, I will consider it to be like when farmers dedicate some of the first grain that they have harvested or the grape juice they have produced. 28 In this way, they too must dedicate to me a special contribution. They must dedicate it from the one tenth of all the produce and animals that the Israelites give them. They must give their special contribution, which belongs to me, to the priest Aaron. 29 From everything that the Israelites give them, they must dedicate a special contribution to me. They must dedicate the best portion, which is sacred.

30 So, tell the Levites that they must dedicate the best portion from everything that the Israelites give them. When they do that, I will consider it to be like when farmers dedicate grain that they have harvested or grape juice that they have produced. 31 The rest of what the Israelites give them is what I pay the Levites for setting up and taking down the sacred tent. So, they and their families may eat it anywhere they choose. 32 When they dedicate the best portion from everything that the Israelites give them, they will avoid defiling the sacred things that the Israelites give them. As a result, I will not punish them for doing anything wrong concerning those sacred things. That way, they will not die.”