Read the Bible

The Work of the Religious Leaders and Levites

¹ The Lord said to Aaron, "You and your sons and those of your father's house will carry the guilt for any sin done in the meeting tent. And you and your sons with you will carry the guilt of any sin of the religious leaders. ² Bring with you your brothers also, the family of Levi, the family of your father. Then they may join you and help you while you and your sons are in front of the meeting tent of the Law. ³ They will help you and help in doing all the work of the tent. But they must not come near the objects of the meeting tent and the altar, or both they and you will die. ⁴ They will join you and help do all the work of the meeting tent. But no one else may come near you. ⁵ You must do the work of the meeting tent and the work of the altar, so there will no longer be anger on the people of Israel. ⁶ See, I Myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the work for the meeting tent. ⁷ But you and your sons with you will do the religious work, in all that has to do with the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the work of being the religious leader as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the holy objects will be put to death."

Gifts for the Religious Leaders

⁸ Then the Lord said to Aaron, "Now see, I am giving you all the gifts brought to Me that are not burned on the altar. I am giving them to you as a share, and to your sons as a share forever. ⁹ This will be yours from the most holy gifts, kept from the fire: every gift of theirs, even every grain gift, every sin gift and every guilt gift, which they bring to Me. They will be most holy for you and your sons. ¹⁰ You will eat it as the most holy gifts. Every male will eat it. It will be holy to you. ¹¹ And this is yours: their gift that is lifted up and all the wave gifts of the people of Israel. I am giving them to you and to your sons and daughters with you, as a share forever. Everyone in your house who is clean may eat it. ¹² I give to you all the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the first-fruits of what they give to the Lord. ¹³ The first-fruits ready to eat of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, will be yours. Everyone in your house who is clean may eat it. ¹⁴ Everything in Israel that has been set apart to the Lord will be yours. ¹⁵ Every first-born of all flesh, man or animal, which they give to the Lord, will be yours. But you must pay the price and make free the first-born of man and the first-born of animals that are unclean. ¹⁶ You must make them free when they are one month old. The price to free them will be five large pieces of silver, the price decided upon at the meeting tent. One large piece of silver is worth twenty small pieces of silver. ¹⁷ But do not free the first-born of a bull or sheep or goat. For they are holy. You will put their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a gift by fire, a pleasing smell to the Lord. ¹⁸ But their meat will be yours, like the breast of a wave gift and like the right thigh are yours. ¹⁹ I have given to you and your sons and daughters, for a share forever, all the holy gifts which the people of Israel bring to the Lord. It is an agreement of salt forever before the Lord for you and your children with you." ²⁰ Then the Lord said to Aaron, "You will have no share in their land. You will not own any part of land among them. I am your part and your share among the people of Israel.

²¹ "See, I have given a tenth part of everything in Israel to the Levites, in return for the work they do, the work of the meeting tent. ²² The people of Israel must not come near the meeting tent again, or they will be guilty of sin and die. ²³ Only the Levites may do the work around the meeting tent, and they will carry their sin. It will be a Law forever for all your children-to-come. And they will have no land among the people of Israel. ²⁴ For I have given to the Levites one-tenth part of what the people of Israel give to the Lord. This is why I have said of them, ‘They will have no land among the people of Israel.'"

²⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ "Say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tenth which I have given you from them for your share, then give a gift from it to the Lord. Give one-tenth part of the tenth. ²⁷ And your gift will be to you as if it were the grain from the grain-floor or all the wine from the crushed grapes. ²⁸ So you must give a gift to the Lord from the tenth of what you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you must give the Lord's gift to Aaron the religious leader. ²⁹ Out of all the gifts to you, you must give every gift that should go to the Lord, from all the best of them. Give the holy part from them.'

³⁰ "And say to them, ‘When you have given the best part of it, the rest of it will be to you as if it were the grain from the grain-floor and the wine from the crushed grapes. ³¹ You and those of your houses may eat it in any place. For it is your pay for your work in the meeting tent. ³² You will not be guilty because of it, when you have given the best of it. But do not make unclean the holy gifts of the people of Israel, or you will die.'"