The Wilderness Years

and Moses doth as Jehovah hath commanded him; so he hath done.

And the sons of Israel speak unto Moses, saying, `Lo, we have expired; we have perished; we have all of us perished;

any who is at all drawing near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah dieth; have we not been consumed--to expire?'

And Jehovah saith unto Aaron, `Thou, and thy sons, and the house of thy father with thee, do bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and thou, and thy sons with thee, do bear the iniquity of your priesthood;

and also thy brethren, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, and they are joined unto thee, and serve thee, even thou and thy sons with thee, before the tent of the testimony.

`And they have kept thy charge, and the charge of all the tent; only, unto the vessels of the sanctuary and unto the altar they do not come near, and they die not, either they or you;

and they have been joined unto thee, and have kept the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; and a stranger doth not come near unto you;

and ye have kept the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar, and there is no more wrath against the sons of Israel.

`And I, lo, I have taken your brethren the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; to you a gift they are given by Jehovah, to do the service of the tent of meeting;

and thou, and thy sons with thee, do keep your priesthood, for everything of the altar, and within the vail, and ye have served; a service of gift I make your priesthood; and the stranger who is coming near is put to death.'

And Jehovah speaketh unto Aaron: `And I, lo, I have given to thee the charge of My heave-offerings, of all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel--to thee I have given them for the anointing, and to thy sons, by a statute age-during.

This is thine of the most holy things, from the fire: all their offering, to all their present, and to all their sin-offering, and to all their guilt-offering, which they give back to Me, is most holy to thee, and to thy sons;

in the holy of holies thou dost eat it; every male doth eat it; holy it is to thee.

`And this is thine: the heave-offering of their gift, to all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel, to thee I have given them, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute age-during; every clean one in thy house doth eat it;

all the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine, and wheat--their first- fruits which they give to Jehovah--to thee I have given them.

`The first-fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring in to Jehovah, are thine; every clean one in thy house doth eat it;

every devoted thing in Israel is thine,

every one opening a womb of all flesh which they bring near to Jehovah, among man and among beast, is thine; only, thou dost certainly ransom the first-born of man, and the firstling of the unclean beast thou dost ransom.

`And their ransomed ones from a son of a month, thou dost ransom with thy valuation, of silver, five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty gerahs it is .

`Only, the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou dost not ransom, holy they are : their blood thou dost sprinkle on the altar, and of their fat thou makest perfume, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah,

and their flesh is thine, as the breast of the wave-offering, and as the right leg, it is thine;

all the heave-offerings of the holy things which the sons of Israel lift up to Jehovah I have given to thee and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute age-during, a covenant of salt, age-during it is before Jehovah, to thee and to thy seed with thee.'

And Jehovah saith unto Aaron, `In their land thou dost not inherit, and a portion thou hast not in their midst: I am thy portion, and thine inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel;

and to the sons of Levi, lo, I have given all the tenth in Israel for inheritance in exchange for their service which they are serving--the service of the tent of meeting.

`And the sons of Israel come no more near unto the tent of meeting, to bear sin, to die,