Offerings for Priests and Levites

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,(A) your perpetual share.(B) You are to have the part of the most holy offerings(C) that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain(D) or sin[a](E) or guilt offerings,(F) that part belongs to you and your sons. 10 Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it.(G) You must regard it as holy.(H)

11 “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings(I) of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share.(J) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean(K) may eat it.

12 “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain(L) they give the Lord(M) as the firstfruits of their harvest.(N) 13 All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours.(O) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.(P)

14 “Everything in Israel that is devoted[b] to the Lord(Q) is yours. 15 The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours.(R) But you must redeem(S) every firstborn(T) son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.(U) 16 When they are a month old,(V) you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels[c](W) of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel,(X) which weighs twenty gerahs.(Y)

17 “But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy.(Z) Splash their blood(AA) against the altar and burn their fat(AB) as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.(AC) 18 Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering(AD) and the right thigh are yours.(AE)

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 18:9 Or purification
  2. Numbers 18:14 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord.
  3. Numbers 18:16 That is, about 2 ounces or about 58 grams

26 “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you(A) as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering.(B) 27 Your offering will be reckoned(C) to you as grain from the threshing floor(D) or juice from the winepress.(E) 28 In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes(F) 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.(G) 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.(H) 32 By presenting the best part(I) of it you will not be guilty in this matter;(J) then you will not defile the holy offerings(K) of the Israelites, and you will not die.’”

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38 A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes(A) up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury.

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