Num 18 | ESV | STEP | So the Lord said to Aaron , You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary , and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood .

1 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall ^abear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, ^band you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. 2 And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may ^cjoin you and ^dminister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3 They shall keep guard over you and ^eover the whole tent, ^fbut shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar ^glest they, and you, die. 4 They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, ^hand no outsider shall come near you. 5 And you shall ⁱkeep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, ^jthat there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. 6 ^kAnd behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. ^lThey are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. 7 And ^myou and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and ⁿthat is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, ^{▼▼Hebrew service of gift} and ^pany outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, ^qI have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you ^ras a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every ^ssin offering of theirs and every ^tguilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. 10 In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. 11 This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the ^uwave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to ^vyou, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. ^wEveryone who is clean in your house may eat it. 12 ^xAll the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, ^ythe firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. 13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, ^zwhich they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. ^aaEveryone who is clean in your house may eat it. 14 ^abEvery devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. 15 ^acEverything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, ^adthe firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And their redemption price ^ae(at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels ^{▼▼A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams} in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, ^agwhich is twenty gerahs. 17 ^ahBut 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 as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 But their flesh shall be yours, as ^aithe breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. 19 ^ajAll the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. ^akIt is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.” 20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. ^alI am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

21 ^am“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 ^anso that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, ^aolest they bear sin and die. 23 But ^apthe Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, ^aqand they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which ^arthey present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance ^asamong the people of Israel.”

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, ^ata tithe of the tithe. 27 ^auAnd your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord’s contribution to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, ^avthen the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. 31 And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^awyour reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you shall ^axbear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not ^ayprofane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”