Numbers 18:8-19:22

New International Version

Offerings for Priests and Levites

⁸ Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion,^(A) your perpetual share.^{(B) 9} You are to have the part of the most holy offerings^(C) that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain^(D) or sin^[a](E) or guilt offerings,^(F) that part belongs to you and your sons. ¹⁰ Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it.^(G) You must regard it as holy.^(H)

¹¹ “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings^(I) of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share.^(J) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean^(K) may eat it.

¹² “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain^(L) they give the Lord^(M) as the firstfruits of their harvest.^{(N) 13} All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours.^(O) Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.^(P)

¹⁴ “Everything in Israel that is devoted^[b] to the Lord^(Q) is yours. ¹⁵ The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours.^(R) But you must redeem^(S) every firstborn^(T) son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.^{(U) 16} When they are a month old,^(V) you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels^[c](W) of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel,^(X) which weighs twenty gerahs.^(Y)

¹⁷ “But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy.^(Z) Splash their blood^(AA) against the altar and burn their fat^(AB) as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.^{(AC) 18} Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering^(AD) and the right thigh are yours.^{(AE) 19} Whatever is set aside from the holy^(AF) offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt^(AG) before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”

²⁰ The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them;^(AH) I am your share and your inheritance^(AI) among the Israelites.

²¹ “I give to the Levites all the tithes^(AJ) in Israel as their inheritance^(AK) in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.^{(AL) 22} From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.^{(AM) 23} It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance^(AN) for the generations to come.^(AO) They will receive no inheritance^(AP) among the Israelites.^{(AQ) 24} Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord.^(AR) That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you^(AS) as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering.^{(AT) 27} Your offering will be reckoned^(AU) to you as grain from the threshing floor^(AV) or juice from the winepress.^{(AW) 28} In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes^(AX) you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’

³⁰ “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.^{(AY) 31} You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.^{(AZ) 32} By presenting the best part^(BA) of it you will not be guilty in this matter;^(BB) then you will not defile the holy offerings^(BC) of the Israelites, and you will not die.’”

The Water of Cleansing

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ² “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer^(BD) without defect or blemish^(BE) and that has never been under a yoke.^{(BF) 3} Give it to Eleazar^(BG) the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp^(BH) and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle^(BI) it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. ⁵ While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.^{(BJ) 6} The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop^(BK) and scarlet wool^(BL) and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷ After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water.^(BM) He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. ⁸ The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

⁹ “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer^(BN) and put them in a ceremonially clean place^(BO) outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing;^(BP) it is for purification from sin.^{(BQ) 10} The man who gathers up^(BR) the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening.^(BS) This will be a lasting ordinance^(BT) both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.^(BU)

¹¹ “Whoever touches a human corpse^(BV) will be unclean for seven days.^{(BW) 12} They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day;^(BX) then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.^{(BY) 13} If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse,^(BZ) they defile the Lord’s tabernacle.^(CA) They must be cut off from Israel.^(CB) Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean;^(CC) their uncleanness remains on them.

¹⁴ “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, ¹⁵ and every open container^(CD) without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.

¹⁶ “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death,^(CE) or anyone who touches a human bone^(CF) or a grave,^(CG) will be unclean for seven days.^(CH)

¹⁷ “For the unclean person, put some ashes^(CI) from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water^(CJ) over them. ¹⁸ Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop,^(CK) dip it in the water and sprinkle^(CL) the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave^(CM) or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. ¹⁹ The man who is clean is to sprinkle^(CN) those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them.^(CO) Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes^(CP) and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. ²⁰ But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled^(CQ) the sanctuary of the Lord.^(CR) The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.^{(CS) 21} This is a lasting ordinance^(CT) for them.

“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. ²² Anything that an unclean^(CU) person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”