Instructions about Consecration

29 “This is what you are to do for them to consecrate them to serve Me as priests. Take a young bull and two unblemished rams, ² with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers coated with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour,^{(A) 3} put them in a basket, and bring them in the basket, along with the bull and two rams. ⁴ Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water.^{(B) 5} Then take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe for the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastpiece; fasten the ephod on him with its woven waistband.^{(C) 6} Put the turban on his head and place the holy diadem^(D) on the turban. ⁷ Take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint^(E) him. ⁸ You must also bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. ⁹ Tie the sashes on Aaron and his sons and fasten headbands on them. The priesthood is to be theirs by a permanent statute. This is the way you will ordain Aaron and^[a] his sons.^(F)

¹⁰ “You are to bring the bull to the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the bull’s head.^{(G) 11} Slaughter the bull before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹² Take some of the bull’s blood and apply it to the horns^(H) of the altar with your finger; then pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat^(I) that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. ¹⁴ But burn up the bull’s flesh, its hide, and its dung outside the camp;^(J) it is a sin offering.

¹⁵ “Take one ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head.^{(K) 16} You are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and sprinkle it on all sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut the ram into pieces. Wash its entrails and shanks, and place them with its head and its pieces on the altar. ¹⁸ Then burn the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma,^(L) a fire offering to the Lord.

¹⁹ “You are to take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the ram’s head.^{(M) 20} Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on his sons’ right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Sprinkle the remaining blood on all sides of the altar. ²¹ Take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil,^(N) and sprinkle them on Aaron and his garments, as well as on his sons and their garments. In this way, he and his garments will become holy, as well as his sons and their garments.

²² “Take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the fatty lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, and the right thigh (since this is a ram for ordination^[b]); ²³ take one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord; ²⁴ and put all of them in the hands of Aaron and his^[c] sons and wave them as a presentation offering before the Lord.^{(O) 25} Take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before the Lord; it is a fire offering to the Lord.

²⁶ “Take the breast from the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it as a presentation offering before the Lord; it is to be your portion.^{(P) 27} Consecrate for Aaron and his sons^(Q) the breast of the presentation offering that is waved and the thigh of the contribution that is lifted up from the ram of ordination. ²⁸ This will belong to Aaron and his sons as a regular portion from the Israelites, for it is a contribution. It will be the Israelites’ contribution from their fellowship sacrifices, their contribution to the Lord.

²⁹ “The holy garments that belong to Aaron are to belong to his sons after him, so that they can be anointed and ordained^[d] in them.^{(R) 30} Any priest who is one of his sons and who succeeds him and enters the tent of meeting to minister in the sanctuary must wear them for seven days.^(S)

³¹ “You are to take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. ³² Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance to the tent of meeting.^{(T) 33} They must eat those things by which atonement was made at the time of their ordination^[e] and consecration. An unauthorized person must not eat^(U) them, for these things are holy. ³⁴ If any of the meat of ordination or any of the bread is left until morning, burn up what is left over. It must not be eaten because it is holy.

³⁵ “This is what you are to do for Aaron and his sons based on all I have commanded you. Take seven days to ordain them. ³⁶ Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify^[f] the altar when you make atonement for it, and anoint it in order to consecrate it.^{(V) 37} For seven days you must make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. The altar will become especially holy; whatever touches the altar will become holy.^(W)

³⁸ “This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar every day: two year-old lambs.^{(X) 39} In the morning offer one lamb, and at twilight offer the other lamb.^{(Y) 40} With the first lamb offer two quarts^[g] of fine flour mixed with one quart^[h] of oil from crushed olives, and a drink offering of one quart^[i] of wine. ⁴¹ You are to offer the second lamb at twilight. Offer a grain offering and a drink offering with it, like the one in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to the Lord. ⁴² This will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you^[j] to speak with you.^{(Z) 43} I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory.^{(AA) 44} I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. ⁴⁵ I will dwell^(AB) among the Israelites and be their God.^{(AC) 46} And they will know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I am Yahweh their God.^(AD)

Provision for the Priesthood

18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral house^(A) will be responsible for sin against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for sin involving your priesthood. ² But also bring your relatives with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony.^{(B) 3} They are to perform duties for you and for the whole tent. They must not come near the sanctuary equipment or the altar; otherwise, both they and you will die. ⁴ They are to join you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no unauthorized person may come near you.

⁵ “You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.^{(C) 6} Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you,^[a] assigned by the Lord to work at the tent of meeting. ⁷ But you and your sons will carry out your priestly responsibilities for everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the veil, and you will do that work. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift,^[b] but an unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary will be put to death.”

Support for the Priests and Levites

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions brought to Me. As for all the holy offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.^{(D) 9} A portion of the holiest offerings kept from the fire will be yours; every one of their offerings that they give Me, whether the grain offering, sin offering, or restitution offering will be most holy for you and your sons. ¹⁰ You are to eat it as a most holy offering.^[c] Every male may eat it; it is to be holy to you.

¹¹ “The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites’ presentation offerings to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute.^(E) Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it. ¹² I am giving you all the best of the fresh olive oil, new wine, and grain, which the Israelites give to the Lord as their firstfruits. ¹³ The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, belong to you. Every clean person in your house may eat them.

¹⁴ “Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated to the Lord^(F) belongs to you. ¹⁵ The firstborn of every living thing, man or animal, presented to the Lord belongs to you. But you must certainly redeem the firstborn of man,^(G) and redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal. ¹⁶ You will pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your assessment: five shekels of silver by the standard sanctuary shekel, which is 20 gerahs.^(H)

¹⁷ “However, you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a fire offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ But their meat belongs to you. It belongs to you like the breast of the presentation offering and the right thigh.

¹⁹ “I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the Lord as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt^(I) before the Lord for you as well as your offspring.”

²⁰ The Lord told Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land; there will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.^(J)

²¹ “Look, I have given the Levites every tenth in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the work of the tent of meeting. ²² The Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting, or they will incur guilt and die. ²³ The Levites will do the work of the tent of meeting, and they will bear the consequences of their sin. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites;^(K) this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. ²⁴ For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the Lord as a contribution for their inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”

²⁵ The Lord instructed Moses, ²⁶ “Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the Lord—a tenth of the tenth. ²⁷ Your offering will be credited to you as if it were your grain from the threshing floor or the full harvest from the winepress. ²⁸ You are to present an offering to the Lord from every tenth you receive from the Israelites. Give some of it to Aaron the priest as an offering to the Lord. ²⁹ You must present the entire offering due the Lord from all your gifts. The best part of the tenth^(L) is to be consecrated.

³⁰ “Tell them further: Once you have presented the best part of the tenth, and it is credited to you Levites as the produce of the threshing floor or the winepress, ³¹ then you and your household may eat it anywhere. It is your wage in return for your work at the tent of meeting. ³² You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites’ holy offerings, so that you will not die.”

The Divisions of the Priests

24 The divisions of the descendants of Aaron were as follows: Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.^{(A) 2} But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.^{(B) 3} Together with Zadok^(C) from the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech from the sons of Ithamar, David divided them according to the assigned duties of their service. ⁴ Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than Ithamar’s, they were divided accordingly: 16 heads of ancestral houses were from Eleazar’s descendants, and eight heads of ancestral houses were from Ithamar’s. ⁵ They^(D) were assigned by lot, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both Eleazar’s and Ithamar’s descendants.

⁶ The secretary, Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king and the officers, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech^(E) son of Abiathar, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites. One ancestral house was taken for Eleazar, and then one for Ithamar.

¹⁹ These had their assigned duties for service when they entered the Lord’s temple, according to their regulations, which they received from their ancestor Aaron, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

The Rest of the Levites

Those were the sons of the Levites according to their ancestral houses. ³¹ They also cast lots the same way as their relatives the sons of Aaron did in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the families of the priests and Levites—the family heads and their younger brothers alike.^(H)