Numbers 8:13-19 ▼

13 “And you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and before his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the LORD.

14 “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine.

15 “Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and present them as a wave offering;

16 for they are wholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself instead of every first issue of the womb, the first-born of all the sons of Israel.

17 “For every first-born among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the men and among the animals; on the day that I struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

18 “But I have taken the Levites instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel.

19 “And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, that there may be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary.”