Tithes for Support of the Levites

²¹ “Behold, ^(A)I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as ^[a]an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, ^(B)the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ^22 (C)Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, ^(D)lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites ^[b]as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

The Tithe of the Levites

²⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, ^(E)a tenth of the tithe.

⁴ Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute ^(A)support^[a] for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to ^(B)the Law of the Lord.