Duties of Priests and Levites
1 The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house shall bear the iniquity relative to the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity relative to your priesthood. 2 Bring your brothers; the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, with you also, so that they may join you and minister to you when you and your sons minister before the Tent of the Testimony. 3 They shall keep your charge and the charge of all the tabernacle, only they shall not come near to the sacred vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, so that neither they nor you die. 4 They shall join you and keep charge of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger shall not come near to you.
5 You shall perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the Israelites. 6 I myself have taken your brothers, the Levites from among the Israelites. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting. 7 You and your sons with you shall keep your office of priesthood. For everything connected to the altar and within the veil, you shall serve. I have given you the office of the priesthood as a gift. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
The Priests’ Portion
8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “I myself have given you charge of my wave offerings, and all the holy things of the Israelites. To you, I have given them by the anointing, and to your sons, through a perpetual ordinance. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things from the fire: every grain offering of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.
11 This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.
12 I have given to you all the best of the oil, all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of those who give to the Lord. 13 The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which the Israelites bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.
14 Everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord shall be yours. 15 Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to the Lord, both of man and animal, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals. 16 And those who are to be redeemed, from a month old, you shall redeem them, according to your estimation, for five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
17 But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to the Lord.
18 Their meat shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours. 19 All the wave offerings of the holy things which the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord to you and to your offspring with you.”
20 The Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.
The Levites’ Portion
21 To the Levites, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for the work which they do in the service of the Tent of Meeting. 22 Henceforth, the Israelites shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die. 23 But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. Among the Israelites, they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the Israelites, which they offer as a wave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the Israelites they shall have no inheritance.’ ”
The Heave Offering
25 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover you shall speak to the Levites and tell them, ‘When you take from the Israelites, the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for the Lord, a tenth of the tithe. 27 Your wave offering shall be credited to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the wine press. 28 Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to the Lord of all your tithes, which you receive from the Israelites, and of it you shall give the Lord’s wave offering to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all your gifts, you shall offer every wave offering to the Lord, of all its best parts, the holy part of it.’
30 Therefore you shall tell them, ‘When you heave its best from it, then it shall be credited to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor and as the increase of the wine press. 31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting. 32 You shall bear no sin because of it, when you have heaved from it its best. You shall not profane the holy things of the Israelites, that you not die.’ ”