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1 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, You and your sons and your father's house shall bear the sins of the holy things, and you and your sons shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. 2 And take to yourself your brethren the tribe of Levi, the family of your father, and let them be joined to you, and let them minister to you; and you and your sons with you shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. 3 And they shall keep your charges, and the charges of the tabernacle; only they shall not approach the holy vessels and the altar, so both they and you shall not die. 4 And they shall be joined to you, and shall keep the charges of the tabernacle of witness, in all the services of the tabernacle; and a stranger shall not approach to you. 5 And you⌃ shall keep the charges of the holy things, and the charges of the altar, and so there shall not be anger * amongst the children of Israel. 6 And I have taken your brethren the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, a present given to the Lord, to minister in the services of the tabernacle of witness. 7 And you and your sons after you shall keep up your priestly ministration, according to the whole manner of the altar, and that which is within the veil; and you⌃ shall minister in the services as the office of your priesthood; and the stranger that comes near shall die. 8 And the Lord said to Aaron, And, behold, I have given you the charge of the first fruits of all things consecrated to me by the children of Israel; and I have given them to you as an honour, and to your sons after you for a perpetual ordinance. 9 And let this be to you from all the holy things that are consecrated to me, even the burnt offerings, from all their gifts, and from all their sacrifices, and from every trespass-offering of theirs, and from all their sin-offerings, whatever things they give to me of all their holy things, they shall be yours and your sons'. 10 In the most holy place shall you⌃ eat them; every male shall eat them, you and your sons: they shall be holy to you. 11 And this shall be to you of the first fruits of their gifts, of all the † wave-offerings of the children of Israel; to you have I given them and to your sons and your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance; every clean person in your house shall eat them. 12 Every first-offering of oil, and every first-offering of wine, their first fruits of corn, whatever they may give to the Lord, to you have I given them. 13 All the first fruits that are in their land, whatever they shall offer to the Lord, shall be yours: every clean person in your house shall eat them. 14 Every devoted thing amongst the children of Israel shall be yours. 15 And every thing that opens the womb of all flesh, whatever they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours: only the firstborn of men shall be surely redeemed, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean cattle. 16 And the redemption of them shall be from a month old; their valuation of five shekels—it is twenty oboli according to the holy shekel. 17 But you shall not redeem the firstborn ‡ of calves and the firstborn of sheep and the firstborn of goats; they are holy: and you shall pour their blood upon the altar, and you shall offer the fat as a burnt offering for a smell of sweet savour to the Lord. 18 And the flesh shall be yours, as also the breast of the wave-offering and as the right shoulder, it shall be yours. 19 Every special offering of the holy things, whatever the children of Israel shall specially offer to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, a perpetual ordinance: it is a covenant § of salt for ever before the Lord, for you and your seed after you. 20 And the Lord said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion amongst them; for I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel. 21 And, behold, I have given to the sons of Levi every tithe in Israel for an inheritance for their services, whenever they perform ministry in the tabernacle of witness. 22 And the children of Israel shall no more draw near to the tabernacle of witness to incur fatal guilt. 23 And the Levite himself shall perform the service of the tabernacle of witness; and they shall bear their iniquities, it is a perpetual statute throughout their generations; and in the midst of the children of Israel they shall not receive an inheritance. 24 Because I have given as a distinct portion to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the children of Israel, whatever they shall offer to the Lord; therefore I said to them, In the midst of the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 You shall also speak to the Levites, and shall say to them, If you⌃ take the tithe from the children of Israel, which I have given you from them for an inheritance, then shall you⌃ separate from it a heave-offering to the Lord, a tenth of the tenth. 27 And your heave-offerings shall be reckoned to you as corn from the floor, and an offering from the wine-press. 28 So shall you⌃ also separate them from all the offerings of the Lord out of all your tithes, whatever you⌃ shall receive from the children of Israel; and you⌃ shall give of them an offering to the Lord to Aaron the priest. 29 Of all your gifts you⌃ shall offer an offering to the Lord, and of every first-fruit the consecrated part from it. 30 And you shall say to them, When you⌃ shall offer the first fruits from it, then shall it be reckoned to the Levites as produce from the threshing floor, and as produce from the wine-press. 31 And you⌃ shall eat it in any place, you⌃ and your families; for this is your reward for your services in the tabernacle of witness. 32 And you⌃ shall not bear sin by reason of it, ** for you⌃ shall have offered an offering of first fruits from it, and you⌃ shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you⌃ die not.
* 18:5 Gr. in. † 18:11 Heb. חנפה. Such appears its general meaning. ‡ 18:17 i. e. amongst. But μόσχος is used elsewhere in the LXX. for horned cattle old enough to breed. § 18:19 Gr. of perpetual salt. ** 18:32 Or, because you⌃ shall