⁵ For the Lord your God has chosen Levi^[a] out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.^(A)

⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.^(A)

¹⁰ But you shall enroll Aaron and his descendants; it is they who shall attend to the priesthood, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”^(A)

¹² As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the Lord your God or the judge, that person shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

⁵ And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you.”^{(A) 6} Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. ⁷ So Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant.^(B)

⁸ When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. ⁹ Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites, and they looked, and each man took his staff.

⁹ Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to allow you to approach him in order to perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the congregation and serve them?^{(A) 10} He has allowed you to approach him, and all your brother Levites with you, yet you seek the priesthood as well!

⁵ Then he spoke to Korah and all his congregation, saying, “In the morning the Lord will make known who is his and who is holy and who will be allowed to approach him; the one whom he will choose he will allow to approach him.^(A)

Vestments for the Priesthood

28 “Then bring near to you your brother Aaron and his sons with him, from among the Israelites, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.^{(A) 2} You shall make sacred vestments for the glorious adornment of your brother Aaron.^{(B) 3} And you shall speak to all who are skillful, whom I have endowed with skill, so that they make Aaron’s vestments to consecrate him for my priesthood.^{(C) 4} These are the vestments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a checkered tunic, a turban, and a sash. When they make these sacred vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests,^{(D) 5} they shall use gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine linen.

The Ephod

⁶ “They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen, skillfully worked.^{(E) 7} It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. ⁸ The decorated band on it shall be of the same workmanship and materials, of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen. ⁹ You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel,^{(F) 10} six of their names on the one stone and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. ¹¹ As a gem cutter engraves signets, so you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; you shall mount them in settings of gold filigree. ¹² You shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.^{(G) 13} You shall make settings of gold filigree ¹⁴ and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords, and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.

¹³ It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’ ”^(A)