Numbers 8

¹Now the Lord spoke to Moses , saying ,

²Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps , the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand .

³And Aaron did so : he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand , as the Lord commanded Moses .

⁴And this was the workmanship of the lampstand , hammered work of gold . From its base to its flowers , it was hammered work ; according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses , so he made the lampstand .

⁵And the Lord spoke to Moses , saying ,

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

⁷Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them : sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body , and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.

⁸Then let them take a bull from the herd and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil , and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering .

⁹And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel .

¹⁰When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites ,

¹¹and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel , that they may do the service of the Lord.

¹²Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls , and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites .

¹³And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons , and shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord.

¹⁴Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel , and the Levites shall be mine.

¹⁵And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting , when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering .

¹⁶For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel . Instead of all who open the womb , the firstborn of all the people of Israel , I have taken them for myself.

¹⁷For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast . On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself,

¹⁸and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel .

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

²⁰Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites . According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites , the people of Israel did to them.

²¹And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes , and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

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

²³And the Lord spoke to Moses , saying ,

²⁴This applies to the Levites : from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting .

²⁵And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more .

²⁶They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard , but they shall do no service . Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties .