the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Numbers 18
1 And Yahweh said to Aaron, You and your sons and your fathers' house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.2 And your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, you bring near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you: but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the testimony.3 And they shall keep your charge, and the charge of all the Tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they will not die, neither they, nor you.4 And they shall be joined to you, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger shall not come near to you.5 And you shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there will be no more wrath on the sons of Israel.6 And I, look, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel: to you they are a gift, given to Yahweh, to do the service of the tent of meeting.7 And you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that inside the veil; and you shall serve: I give you the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
8 And Yahweh spoke to Aaron, And I, look, I have given you the charge of my heave-offerings, even all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel; to you I have given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every oblation of theirs, even every meal-offering of theirs, and every sin-offering of theirs, and every trespass-offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.10 As the most holy things you shall eat thereof; every male shall eat thereof: it shall be holy to you.11 And this is yours: the heave-offering of their gift, even all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever; every one that is clean in your house shall eat thereof.12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to Yahweh, to you I have given them.13 The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, shall be yours; every one that is clean in your house shall eat thereof.14 Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.15 Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Yahweh, both of man and beast shall be yours: nevertheless the first-born of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you shall redeem.16 And those that are to be redeemed of them from a month old you shall redeem, according to your estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same 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 shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor to Yahweh.18 And the flesh of them shall be yours, as the wave-breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.19 All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to Yahweh, I have given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your seed with you.
20 And Yahweh said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them: I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.21 And to the sons of Levi, look, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting.22 And from now on the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.24 For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.25 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,26 Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and say to them, When you take of the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave-offering of it for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.27 And your heave-offering shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing-floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.28 Thus you also shall offer a heave-offering to Yahweh of all your tithes, which you receive of the sons of Israel; and thereof you shall give Yahweh's heave-offering to Aaron the priest.29 Out of all your gifts you shall offer every heave-offering of Yahweh, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.30 Therefore you shall say to them, When you heave the best thereof from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing-floor, and as the increase of the wine-press.31 And you shall eat it in every place, you and your households: for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting.32 And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it the best thereof: and you shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, that you will not die.
Updated Bible Version
Scripture quotations are from the UPDV® Updated Bible Version 1.9, Copyright © 2003-4 by Updated Publishers. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.