Numbers 8:5-22 ▼

5 And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,

6 “Take the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel and cleanse them.

7 Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: Sprinkle on them waters of purification, and let a razor pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes and make themselves clean.

8 And let them take a bull, a son of the herd, and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with the oil; and a second bull, a son of the herd, you shall take as a sin offering.

9 And you shall bring the Levites before the face of the Tent of Meeting, and you shall gather together all the congregation of the sons of Israel.

10 And you shall bring the Levites before the face of YHWH, and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.

11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites a wave offering before the face of YHWH from the sons of Israel, that they may perform the service of YHWH.

12 And the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the young bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the one for a burnt offering to YHWH, to make atonement upon the Levites.

13 And you shall stand the Levites before the face of Aaron and his sons, and wave them as a wave offering to YHWH.

14 And you shall separate the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be unto Me.

15 And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the Tent of Meeting. And you shall cleanse them and offer them as a wave offering.

16 For they are wholly given to Me from the midst of the sons of Israel. Instead of him who opens every womb—the firstborn of all the sons of Israel—I have taken them for Myself.

17 For Mine are all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, the man and the beast. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them to Myself.

18 And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the sons of Israel.

19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the sons of Israel, to do the work of the sons of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement upon the sons of Israel, and there will be no plague among the sons of Israel at the coming of the sons of Israel to the sanctuary.”

20 And Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites according to all that YHWH commanded Moses concerning the Levites; so the sons of Israel did to them.

21 And the Levites cleansed themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the face of YHWH, and Aaron made atonement upon them to cleanse them.

22 And after that, the Levites went in to do their work in the Tent of Meeting before the face of Aaron and his sons. As YHWH commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.