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Numbers 18
Lexham English Bible
Numbers 18
Lexham English Bible
The Duties of the Priests and Levities
18 Yahweh said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your family with you will bear the guilt of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the guilt of your priesthood. 2 Moreover, bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi the tribe of your father, that they may be joined to you and minister to you, you and your sons with you before the tent of testimony. 3 They will keep your responsibility and the responsibility of all the tent, only they may not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, so both you and they will not die. 4 They will be joined to you, and they will keep the responsibility of the tent of assembly for the entire service of the tent; a stranger may not come near you. 5 You will keep the responsibility of the sanctuary and the responsibility of the altar, and there will no longer be wrath on the Israelites.[a] 6 Look, I myself have chosen your brothers the Levites from the midst of the children. They are a gift to you given from Yahweh to perform the work of the tent of assembly. 7 But you with your sons will keep your priesthood to perform your priestly duties for everything at the altar[b] and for the area behind the curtain.[c] I give you the priesthood as a gift, but the stranger who approaches will be put to death.”
Portions for the Priests
8 Yahweh spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given to you the responsibility of my contributions for all the holy objects of the Israelites;[d] I have given them as a portion to you and your sons as an eternal decree. 9 This will be for you from the sanctuary of the holy things from the fire; all of their offerings, from every grain offering, from every sin offering, and from every guilt offering which they will bring to me is a most holy thing[e] for you and your sons. 10 You will eat it in the most holy place;[f] every male will eat it. It will be a holy object to you. 11 This is also for you: the contribution of their gift of the wave offerings of the children Israel. I have given them to you and your sons and your daughters with you as an eternal decree; whoever is clean in your house may eat it. 12 All the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and their best grain that they have given to Yahweh, I have given them to you. 13 The firstfruits of all that is in their land that they present to Yahweh will be for you; whoever is clean in your house may eat it. 14 All consecrated possessions[g] in Israel will be for you. 15 All the first offspring of a womb of any creature that they offer to Yahweh, whether human or animal, will be yours; you will surely redeem the firstborn of the human and the unclean firstborn of the animal. 16 As to their price of redemption, from a one-month-old[h] you will redeem them according to your proper value, five shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerah. 17 Only the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat you will not redeem; they are holy. Their blood you will sprinkle over the altar, and their fat you will turn into smoke as an offering made by fire, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh. 18 But their flesh will be for you like the breast section of the wave offering, and it will be for you like the right upper thigh. 19 All the contributions of holiness that the Israelites[i] offer to Yahweh I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you as an eternal decree; it is an eternal covenant of salt before[j] Yahweh to you and your offspring with you.” 20 Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “You will not receive an inheritance in their land, and there will not be a plot of ground for you in the midst of the Israelites.[k]
21 “Behold, I have given to the descendants[l] of Levi every tithe in Israel as an inheritance in return for their service, which they are doing, the work of the tent of assembly. 22 The Israelites[m] will not come near again to the tent of assembly, or they will bear sin[n] and die. 23 The Levites[o] will perform the service of the tent of assembly, and they will bear their guilt, an eternal decree for all your generations. But they will not receive an inheritance in the midst of the Israelites[p] 24 because the tithes[q] of the Israelites[r] that are offered[s] to Yahweh as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I said to them, ‘They will not receive an inheritance in the midst of the Israelites.’”[t]
25 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You will speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you receive the tithe from the Israelites[u] that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, you will present[v] a contribution from it to Yahweh, a tithe from a tithe. 27 Your contribution will be credited to you like the grain from the threshing floor and like the produce from the press. 28 So you will present[w] your own contribution to Yahweh from all your tithes that you receive from the Israelites;[x] from it you will give the contribution of Yahweh to Aaron the priest. 29 From all your gifts you will present[y] every contribution of Yahweh, from all its fat, the part that is sacred.’ 30 You will say to them, ‘When you are presenting[z] its fat, the rest will be credited to the Levites like a yield of the threshing floor and like a yield from the press. 31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your household, because it is a wage in return for your service in the tent of assembly. 32 You will not bear any sin because you have presented[aa] its fat; you will not defile the holy objects of the Israelites,[ab] or you will die.’”
Footnotes
- Numbers 18:5 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:7 Or “for all the things of the altar”
- Numbers 18:7 Literally “the house of the curtain”
- Numbers 18:8 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:9 Literally “a holy object of holiness”
- Numbers 18:10 Alternatively “as a holy object of holiness”
- Numbers 18:14 Hebrew “possession”
- Numbers 18:16 Literally “a son of a month”
- Numbers 18:19 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:19 Literally “in the presence of”
- Numbers 18:20 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:21 Or “sons”
- Numbers 18:22 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:22 The NRSV translates “they will incur guilt”
- Numbers 18:23 Hebrew “Levite”
- Numbers 18:23 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:24 Hebrew “tithe”
- Numbers 18:24 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:24 Hebrew “raised up”
- Numbers 18:24 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:26 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:26 Literally “you will raise up”
- Numbers 18:28 Literally “you will raise up”
- Numbers 18:28 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Numbers 18:29 Literally “you will raise up”
- Numbers 18:30 Literally “you are raising up”
- Numbers 18:32 Literally “you have raised up”
- Numbers 18:32 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
Numbers 18
New International Version
Numbers 18
New International Version
Duties of Priests and Levites
18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary,(A) and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. 2 Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister(B) before the tent of the covenant law. 3 They are to be responsible to you(C) and are to perform all the duties of the tent,(D) but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die.(E) 4 They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are.(F)
5 “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar,(G) so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. 6 I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you,(H) dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting.(I) 7 But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain.(J) I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift.(K) Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.(L)”
Offerings for Priests and Levites
8 Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion,(M) your perpetual share.(N) 9 You are to have the part of the most holy offerings(O) that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain(P) or sin[a](Q) or guilt offerings,(R) that part belongs to you and your sons. 10 Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it.(S) You must regard it as holy.(T)
11 “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings(U) of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share.(V) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean(W) may eat it.
12 “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain(X) they give the Lord(Y) as the firstfruits of their harvest.(Z) 13 All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours.(AA) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.(AB)
14 “Everything in Israel that is devoted[b] to the Lord(AC) is yours. 15 The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours.(AD) But you must redeem(AE) every firstborn(AF) son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.(AG) 16 When they are a month old,(AH) you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels[c](AI) of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel,(AJ) which weighs twenty gerahs.(AK)
17 “But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy.(AL) Splash their blood(AM) against the altar and burn their fat(AN) as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.(AO) 18 Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering(AP) and the right thigh are yours.(AQ) 19 Whatever is set aside from the holy(AR) 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(AS) before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”
20 The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them;(AT) I am your share and your inheritance(AU) among the Israelites.
21 “I give to the Levites all the tithes(AV) in Israel as their inheritance(AW) in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.(AX) 22 From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.(AY) 23 It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance(AZ) for the generations to come.(BA) They will receive no inheritance(BB) among the Israelites.(BC) 24 Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord.(BD) That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”
25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you(BE) as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering.(BF) 27 Your offering will be reckoned(BG) to you as grain from the threshing floor(BH) or juice from the winepress.(BI) 28 In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes(BJ) you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. 29 You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’
30 “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.(BK) 31 You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.(BL) 32 By presenting the best part(BM) of it you will not be guilty in this matter;(BN) then you will not defile the holy offerings(BO) of the Israelites, and you will not die.’”
Footnotes
- Numbers 18:9 Or purification
- Numbers 18:14 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord.
- Numbers 18:16 That is, about 2 ounces or about 58 grams
Numbers 18
King James Version
Numbers 18
King James Version
18 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 everything 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 their's, every meat offering of their's, and every sin offering of their's, and every trespass offering of their's 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 fulness 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.
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