Numbers 8

¹And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

²Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick.

³And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

⁴And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold; unto the base thereof, and unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work: according unto the pattern which Jehovah had showed Moses, so he made the candlestick.

⁵And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

⁶Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

⁷And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.

⁸Then let them take a young bullock, and its meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin-offering.

⁹And thou shalt present the Levites before the tent of meeting: and thou shalt assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel:

¹⁰and thou shalt present the Levites before Jehovah. And the children of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites:

¹¹and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Jehovah for a wave-offering, on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Jehovah.

¹²And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and offer thou the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, unto Jehovah, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave-offering unto Jehovah.

¹⁴Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine.

¹⁵And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tent of meeting: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for a wave-offering.

¹⁶For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of all that openeth the womb, even the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.

¹⁷For all the first-born among the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself.

¹⁸And I have taken the Levites instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel.

¹⁹And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel; that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.

²⁰Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the Levites: according unto all that Jehovah commanded Moses touching the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.

²¹And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes: and Aaron offered them for a wave-offering before Jehovah; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

²²And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons: as Jehovah had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.

²³And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

²⁴This is that which belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service in the work of the tent of meeting:

²⁵and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the work, and shall serve no more,

²⁶but shall minister with their brethren in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charges.

Numbers 8

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to Aaron and tell him: ‘When you set up the seven lamps, they are to light the area in front of the lampstand.’”

³And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps facing toward the front of the lampstand, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁴This is how the lampstand was constructed: it was made of hammered gold from its base to its blossoms, fashioned according to the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.

⁵Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Take the Levites from among the Israelites and make them ceremonially clean.

⁷This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

⁸Then have them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.

⁹Bring the Levites before the Tent of Meeting and assemble the whole congregation of Israel.

¹⁰You are to present the Levites before the LORD and have the Israelites lay their hands upon them.

¹¹Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may perform the service of the LORD.

¹²And the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and offer to the LORD one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons and then present them before the LORD as a wave offering.

¹⁴In this way you shall separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, and the Levites will belong to Me.

¹⁵After you have cleansed them and presented them as a wave offering, they may come to serve at the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶For the Levites have been wholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself in place of all who come first from the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel.

¹⁷For every firstborn male in Israel is Mine, both man and beast. I set them apart for Myself on the day I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.

¹⁸But I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel.

¹⁹And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to perform the service for the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”

²⁰So Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel did with the Levites everything that the LORD had commanded Moses they should do.

²¹The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.

²²After that, the Levites came to perform their service at the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. Thus they did with the Levites just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²³And the LORD said to Moses,

²⁴“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

²⁵But at the age of fifty, they must retire from performing the work and no longer serve.

²⁶After that, they may assist their brothers in fulfilling their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves are not to do the work. This is how you are to assign responsibilities to the Levites.”