1 And the LORD {YHWH, Divine Commander} said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you will bear the guilt {avon: moral liability} of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the guilt of your priesthood.”
2 And also bring near {hakrev: call into service} your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, to be with you, and they will be joined to you and serve you; but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the testimony {ohel ha’edut: meeting place of covenant witness}.
3 And they shall keep your duty {mishmeret: assigned guardianship} and the duty of all the tent, but they must not approach the holy vessels {klei: set-apart implements} or the altar, so that they may not die—both they and you.
4 And they shall join you and keep the charge {mishmeret: official duty} of the Tent of Meeting for all the service of the tent; no outsider {zar: cultic outsider} may come near you.
5 And you shall keep the duty {mishmeret: sacred obligation} of the sanctuary and the altar, so that there will not be again wrath {ketsef: divine punishment} upon the sons of Israel.
6 And I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel for you a gift given to the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Recipient} to serve the service {avodah: sacred duty} of the tent of meeting.
7 But you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for every matter of the altar and within the veil, and you shall serve, for I {YHWH, Bestower of Sacred Service} have given you the priesthood as a service of gift; and the outsider {zar: unauthorized person} who comes near shall be put to death.
8 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Communicator} spoke to Aaron, “And I—behold—I have given to you the responsibility {mishmeret: entrusted duty} over My offerings, for all the holy things of the sons of Israel; to you I have given them as your portion and to your sons as an everlasting statute.”
9 This shall be yours from the most holy things {haqodashim: high sacred portion}, reserved from the fire: all their offerings, all their grain offerings, all their sin offerings, and all their guilt offerings which they bring to Me {YHWH, Divine Recipient}. They shall be most holy for you and for your sons.
10 In a most holy place {hakodashim: supreme sanctity} you shall eat it; every male shall eat it; it shall be holy {kodesh: sacred, set apart} for you.
11 And this is for you: the portion {terumat: priestly dues} from their gifts for all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. To you I have given them, and to your sons and to your daughters who are with you, as a perpetual statute {haq: enduring decree}. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
12 All the best {chelev: choicest part} of the olive oil, and all the best of the new wine, and all the best of the grain—the firstfruits of what they give to the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Giver}—I have given to you.
13 The firstfruits {bikkurim: earliest produce} of all that are in their land, which they bring to the LORD {YHWH, Cultic Recipient}, will be yours; every pure person in your house may eat them.
14 Every devoted thing {cherem: object set apart} in Israel shall be yours {lecha: granted as inheritance}.
15 Every first opener of the womb from all flesh that they bring near to the LORD {YHWH, Recipient of Offerings}, whether from human or from animal, shall be yours. However, you shall surely redeem {padah: ransom price paid} the firstborn of a human, and you shall redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal.
16 And their redemption price you shall set from a month old, at your valuation {erekh: assigned worth}, with silver five shekels by the sanctuary shekel {ha-kodesh: sacred standard}; it is twenty gerahs.
17 However, the firstborn of an ox, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle {tizrok: ritual sprinkling} their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering by fire for a pleasing aroma to the LORD {YHWH, Holy Recipient}.
18 And their flesh {basar: sacred meat} shall be yours {lekha: rightful portion}, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours.
19 All the offerings {terumot: elevated gifts} of the holy things which the sons of Israel lift up to the LORD {YHWH, Giver of Sacred Offerings} I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you as a perpetual statute. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your descendants with you.
20 And the LORD {YHWH, Exclusive Possession} said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land nor any portion among them; I am your inheritance {nachalah: lasting legacy} among the sons of Israel.”
21 And to the sons of Levi, behold, I {YHWH, Portion Giver} have given all the tithe in Israel as an inheritance {nachalah: allotted portion}, instead of the service they perform at the Tent of Meeting.
22 And the sons of Israel shall not come near again to the tent of meeting {ohel moed: appointed meeting place}, lest they bear sin {chet: moral failure} and die.
23 But the Levite {hallewi: tribal minister}—he himself—shall carry out the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their guilt. This is an everlasting statute {chukat olam: perpetual decree} for your generations. And among the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance.
24 For the tithe {maʿasar: one-tenth portion} of the Israelites, which they lift up as an offering to the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Provider}, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Therefore, I said to them, “They shall have no inheritance among the Israelites.”
25 And the LORD {YHWH, Divine Speaker} spoke to Moses {Mosheh: chosen leader}, saying,
26 And you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, “When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given to you from them as your inheritance{nachalah: tribal allotment}, then you shall raise up from it an offering to the LORD{YHWH, Worship Receiver}, a tithe from the tithe.”
27 And your offering {terumah: elevation gift} shall be reckoned to you as grain {dagan: harvested produce} from the threshing floor and as the full yield from the winepress.
28 Thus you also shall lift up an offering to the LORD {YHWH, Worship Receiver} from all your tithes, which you take from the sons of Israel, and you shall give from it the offering of the LORD to Aaron the priest {kohen: set-apart mediator}.
29 From all your gifts you shall lift up the offering of the LORD {YHWH, Sanctifier}, from all its best {chelbo: choicest portion}, even its holiest part from it.
30 And you shall say to them, “When you raise up its choicest part {ḥel·bō: the best portion} from it, it shall be considered for the Levites {lĕ·lĕ·wî·yim: priestly tribe} as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress.”
31 And you, together with your household, may eat it in any place, for it is your wages {sakhar: earned payment} in exchange for your service {avodah: sacred duty} at the tent of meeting.
32 You shall not bear sin {chet: guilt by offense} when you lift up its best part {chelbo: the choice portion}; nor shall you profane the holy things of the Israelites, and you shall not die.