1And the LORD said to Aaron, “Your sons and those of your family bear the responsibility for any offenses connected with the sanctuary; and when and you and your sons minister before the tabernacle of meeting, alone, you are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. 2Bring your fellow Levites from the tribe of your father, that they may join and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tabernacle of witness. 3And they shall be chargeable to you, and perform the duties associated with the tabernacle; but they must not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, so that neither they, nor you, die. 4And they shall join you, and be responsible for the tabernacle of meeting, for all the care and maintenance of the tabernacle: and no stranger shall come near where you are. 5And you shall be responsible for the care of the sanctuary, and the altar: so that there is no wrath any more upon the children of Israel. 6I have selected your brethren. the Levites, from among the children of Israel, as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of meeting. 7But only you and your sons shall serve as priests, in connection with everything of the altar, and within the veil, where you shall serve: I have given your priest's office to you as a special privilege; and any stranger that comes near shall be put to death.” 8And the LORD said to Aaron, “I have also given you the charge of My heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; to you have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as an ordinance forever. 9This shall be yours of their most holy offerings, reserved from the fire: every oblation, meal offering, sin offering, and every trespass offering that they shall render unto Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. 10In the most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy to you. 11And this is also yours: the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, to your sons and to your daughters with you, by a statute forever: everyone that is clean in your house shall eat it. 12All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, of the wheat, the first fruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given to you. 13And whatever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be yours; everyone that is clean in your house shall eat it. 14Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours. 15Everything that opens the womb in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it is of men or beasts, shall be yours: nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you shall redeem. 16And those that are to be redeemed from a month old you shall redeem, according to your valuation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17But the firstborn of a cow, or of a sheep, or of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy: you shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor unto the LORD. 18And the meat of them shall be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours. 19All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given you, and to your sons and daughters with you, by a statute forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD unto you and to your seed with you.” 20And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any share among them: I am your share and your inheritance among the children of Israel. 21“And I have given the descendants of Levi all the tenth (tithes) in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform, being the service of the tabernacle of meeting. 22Nor must the children of Israel come near the tabernacle of meeting hereafter, or the they will bear their sin, and die. 23But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall be responsible for any offenses they commit against it. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel, they have no inheritance. 24But the tithes of the Israelites, which they offer as a heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore, I have said to them, ‘Among the Israelites they shall have no inheritance.’” 25And the LORD said to Moses, 26“Speak to the Levites, and say to them, ‘When you take the tithes from the children of Israel, which I have given to you, from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it for the LORD - a tenth part of the tithe. 27And this, your heave offering, shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28Thus you also shall offer a heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which you receive from the children of Israel; and you shall give of it for the LORD's heave offering to Aaron, the priest. 29Out of all your gifts, you shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best of it, even the hallowed part of it’. 30Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have presented the best of it, then it shall be counted to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress. 31And you shall eat it in every place - you and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of meeting. 32And you shall bear no sin because of it, when you have presented the best of it: nor shall you pollute the holy things of the Israelites, so that you do not die.’” Reader-Friendly Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2024 by Jim Musser. 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