Numbers 18:20-32

English Standard Version

²⁰And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. ^(A)I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

²¹^(B)“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, ²²^(C)so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, ^(D)lest they bear sin and die. ²³But ^(E)the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, ^(F)and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴For the tithe of the people of Israel, which ^(G)they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance ^(H)among the people of Israel.”

²⁵And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶“Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, ^(I)a tithe of the tithe. ²⁷^(J)And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord's contribution to Aaron the priest. ²⁹Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ ³⁰Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, ^(K)then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. ³¹And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^(L)your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³²And you shall ^(M)bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not ^(N)profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”