Numbers 18:11-31

¹¹The priests lift up high the sacred offerings while they are standing in front of the altar. All of those offerings that the Israelis offer to me belong to you and your sons and daughters. They will always be your share. All the members of your family who have performed the rituals to cause them to be acceptable to me are permitted to eat from these offerings.

¹²I am also giving to you the first food that people harvest each year and bring to me—the best olive oil and new wine and grain.

¹³All of the first crops that people harvest and bring to me belong to you. Anyone in your family who has performed the ritual to become acceptable to me is permitted to eat that food.

¹⁴Everything in Israel that is set apart to belong to me also belongs to you.

¹⁵The firstborn males, both humans and domestic animals, that are offered to me, will be yours. But people must buy back their firstborn sons and the firstborn animals that may not be used for sacrifices.

¹⁶They must buy them back when they are one month old. The price that they must pay for each one is five pieces of silver. They must weigh the silver on the scales that are in the Sacred Tent.

¹⁷But they are not permitted to buy back the firstborn cattle or sheep or goats. They are holy and have been set apart for me. Slaughter them and sprinkle their blood on the altar. Then completely burn the fat of those animals on the altar to be an offering to me. The smell as they burn will be very pleasing to me.

¹⁸The meat from those offerings will be yours, just like the breast and right thigh of animals that are presented to me to maintain fellowship with me as the priest lifts them up high in front of the altar are yours.

¹⁹Anything that the Israeli people present to me as holy/sacred gifts, I am giving to you. They are for you and your sons and daughters to eat. They will always be your share. This is an agreement that I am making with you, an agreement that will ◄last forever/never be changed►. I am also making this agreement with your descendants.”

²⁰Yahweh also said to Aaron, “You priests will not receive any of the land or the property like the other Israeli people will receive. I am what you will receive.

²¹When the Israeli people bring to me a tenth of all the crops and of their newborn animals, I will give that to you descendants of Levi. That will be your payment for the work you do at the Sacred Tent.

²²The other Israelis must not go near that tent. If they go near it, I will consider that their doing that is a sin, and they will die for committing that sin.

²³Only the descendants of Levi are permitted to work at the Sacred Tent, and they will be punished if anything bad happens to it. That is a law that will never be changed. You descendants of Levi will not receive any land among the other Israeli people,

²⁴because I will give you one tenth of all the crops and animals that the Israelis bring to be offerings to me. That is why I said that you will not receive any land like the other Israelis will receive.”

²⁵Yahweh said to Moses/me,

²⁶“Tell this to the descendants of Levi: ‘When you receive one tenth of all the crops and animals from the Israeli people, you must give one tenth of all that to me to be a sacred offering.

²⁷Just like the other Israelis give one tenth of the grain and wine that they produce,

²⁸you must give to me one tenth of all that you receive from them. That will be your sacred offering to me. You must present it to Aaron.

²⁹Select the best parts of the things that are given to you to give them to me.’

³⁰Also, tell this to the descendants of Levi: ‘When you present those best portions of grain and wine as your offering to me, I will consider that those gifts are as though they came from your own grain fields and vineyards.

³¹You descendants of Levi and your families are permitted to eat the rest of that food, and you may eat it wherever you want to, because it is your payment for the work that you do at the Sacred Tent.