¹⁶ since they’ve been set apart for me from among the Israelis. I’ve taken them for myself instead of the first to open the womb—every firstborn of the Israelis, ¹⁷ since every firstborn of Israel belongs to me, from human beings to livestock. On the same day that I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them to myself, ¹⁸ taking the descendants of Levi instead of every firstborn of the Israelis.