1And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying:
2Speak with Aharon, and say to him: When thou dost kindle the lamps upon the face of the candelabrum, the seven lamps shall be burning (together).
3And Aharon did so: on the face of the candelabrum he made the lamps burn, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.
4And this work of the candelabrum was of beaten gold, from its shaft to its lilies, beaten (gold) according to the pattern which the Lord had showed to Mosheh, so had he made the candelabrum.
5And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying:
6Bring near the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and purify them.
7And thus shalt thou do to them to purify them. Sprinkle upon them the water of purification, and make the razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their vestments, and they shall be clean.
8And let them take a young bullock, and his mincha of flour, sprinkled with oil; and a second bullock, a young bullock shalt thou take, for the sin offering.
9And bring the Levites before the tabernacle of ordinance, and assemble all the congregation of the children of Israel.
10And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites;
11And Aharon shall offer the Levites as an elevation before the Lord from the sons of Israel, that they may perform the service of the Lord.
12And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullocks, and make the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, before the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites.
13And thou shalt set the Levites before Aharon, and before his sons, and offer them up (as) an elevation before the Lord.
14And thou shalt thus separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, that the Levites may minister before Me.
15And afterward shall the Levites enter, to minister (in) the tabernacle of ordinance; for thou wilt have purified them, and offered them up as an elevation.
16For by a separation are they separated unto Me from among the sons of Israel, instead of every firstborn who openeth the womb of all the children of Israel have I taken them (to be) before Me.
17For Mine are all the firstborn of the children of Israel, of man and of beast: in the day that I slew all the firstborn in the land of Mizraim did I sanctify them before Me.
18And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the sons of Israel.
19And the Levites I have given as a gift unto Aharon and to his sons, from among the sons of Israel, to minister the service for the children of Israel in the tabernacle of ordinance, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, that death may not be among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come nigh to the sanctuary.
20And Mosheh and Aharon, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel, did unto the Levites according to all that the Lord commanded Mosheh for the Levites; so did the sons of Israel to them.
21And the Levites were purified, and they cleansed their raiment, and Aharon offered them (as) an elevation before the Lord; and Aharon made an atonement for them to purify them.
22And afterwards the Levites went in to perform their service in the tabernacle of ordinance before Aharon and before his sons; as the Lord had commanded Mosheh concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.
23And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying:
24This is (the law) of the Levites: from a son of five-and-twenty years and upward he shall come with the bands in their service (in the) tabernacle of ordinance,
25and from fifty years old he shall return from the company of the ministers, and work no longer;
26But minister with his brethren at the tabernacle of ordinance in keeping the custody; yet the service he shall not perform: so shalt thou do with the Levites in their charge.
