The Wilderness Years

and the Levites have done the service of the tent of meeting, and they--they bear their iniquity; a statute age-during to your generations, that in the midst of the sons of Israel they have no inheritance;

but the tithe of the sons of Israel which they lift up to Jehovah, a heave-offering, I have given to the Levites for inheritance; therefore I have said of them, In the midst of the sons of Israel they have no inheritance.'

And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

`And unto the Levites thou dost speak; and thou hast said unto them, When ye take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given to you from them, for your inheritance, then ye have lifted up from it the heave-offering of Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe;

and your heave-offering hath been reckoned to you as corn from the threshing-floor, and as fulness from the wine-vat;

so ye do lift up--ye also--the heave-offering of Jehovah from all your tithes which ye receive from the sons of Israel; and ye have given from it the heave-offering of Jehovah to Aaron the priest;

out of all your gifts ye do lift up the whole heave-offering of Jehovah; out of all its fat, --its hallowed part--out of it.

`And thou hast said unto them, In your lifting up its fat out of it, then it hath been reckoned to the Levites, as increase of a threshing-floor, and as increase of a wine-vat;

and ye have eaten it in every place, ye and your households, for it is your hire in exchange for your service in the tent of meeting;

and ye bear no sin for it, in your lifting up its fat out of it, and the holy things of the sons of Israel ye do not pollute, and ye die not.'

And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,

`This is a statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel, and they bring unto thee a red cow, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish, on which no yoke hath gone up;

and ye have given it unto Eleazar the priest, and he hath brought it out unto the outside of the camp, and hath slaughtered it before him.

`And Eleazar the priest hath taken of its blood with his finger, and hath sprinkled over-against the front of the tent of meeting of her blood seven times;

and one hath burnt the cow before his eyes; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, besides her dung, he doth burn;

and the priest hath taken cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and hath cast unto the midst of the burning of the cow;

and the priest hath washed his garments, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and afterwards doth come in unto the camp, and the priest is unclean till the evening;

and he who is burning it doth wash his garments with water, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and is unclean till the evening.

`And a clean man hath gathered the ashes of the cow, and hath placed at the outside of the camp, in a clean place, and it hath become to the company of the sons of Israel a charge for waters of separation--it is a cleansing ;

and he who is gathering the ashes of the heifer hath washed his garments, and is unclean till the evening; and it hath been to the sons of Israel, and to the sojourner who is sojourning in their midst, for a statute age-during.

`He who is coming against the dead body of any man--is unclean seven days;

he doth cleanse himself for it on the third day, and on the seventh day he is clean; and if he cleanse not himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean.

Any one who is coming against the dead, against the body of man who dieth, and cleanseth not himself--the tabernacle of Jehovah he hath defiled, and that person hath been cut off from Israel, for water of separation is not sprinkled upon him; he is unclean; his uncleanness is still upon him.

`This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: every one who is coming in unto the tent, and all that is in the tent, is unclean seven days;

and every open vessel which hath no covering of thread upon it is unclean.