Numbers 3:1-13 ▼

1 And these are the records of Aaron and Moses when YHWH spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai:

2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; the firstborn Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he filled with strength to minister as priests.

4 And Nadab and Abihu died before the face of YHWH, when they offered strange fire before the face of YHWH in the Wilderness of Sinai, and they had no sons. And Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests before the face of Aaron their father.

5 And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

6 “Bring near the tribe of Levi and present them before the face of Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.

7 And they shall attend to his needs, and the needs of the whole congregation before the face of the Tent of Meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle.

8 And they shall attend to all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and to the needs of the sons of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle.

9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.

10 And Aaron and his sons you shall appoint, and they shall attend to their priesthood, and the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

11 And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

12 “And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the sons of Israel. And the Levite shall be unto Me,

13 because all the firstborn are unto Me. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. Unto Me they shall be; I am YHWH.”