Numbers 18:12-30

12I will give to you the best olive oil, the best wine and the best grain. The people give to the Lord the first part of these that they get.

13I also give to you the best parts of the food that people bring to the Lord. Any clean person who lives in your house may eat them.

14Everything in Israel that should belong to me is now yours.

15I give to you every firstborn animal and male child that people offer to the Lord. But you must pay the price for every firstborn son and for every firstborn male animal that is not clean.

16When they are one month old, you must buy them from me for five shekels of silver each. The shekel must have the same weight as the shekel that the Levites use in God's Holy Tent. There are 20 gerahs in one shekel.

17You must not pay for the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat. Those animals are holy. Splash the blood from those animals on the altar and burn the fat from them. The smell will make the Lord happy.

18And the meat of those animals belongs to you. In the same way, the meat of the ribs and the right back leg of the special gifts that you lift up to me also belong to you.

19I have given all the gifts that the Israelites offer to the Lord to you, your sons and your daughters. That is a rule for all time. That is the Lord's special promise to you and to your descendants for all time.’

20Then the Lord said to Aaron, ‘You priests and your descendants will have no land, like the other tribes do. You will not share in the things that they receive. I myself am the gift that you receive.

21The Israelites give to me one tenth of everything that they receive. I will give it to the Levites because they serve me in the Tent of Meeting.

22The other Israelites must not come near the Tent of Meeting again. If they do come near it, they will be guilty and then they will die.

23Only the Levites must do the work in the Tent of Meeting. And if they do anything wrong there, they will be guilty. That will be a rule for you and for all your descendants. The Levites will not receive any land like the other Israelites do.

24That is because I have given to the Levites the tithes that the Israelites offer to the Lord. I have told them, “You will not receive any land, like the other Israelites do.” I have given the tithes to them instead.’

25The Lord said to Moses,

26‘You must say to the Levites, “You will receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given to you from them. I have not given any land to you. I have given the tithes to you instead. When you receive those tithes, you must offer one tenth of it to the Lord. That will be a tithe of the tithe.

27This gift will be the same as when a farmer is giving grain or wine to me. It will be special.

28So you will give something to the Lord from the tithes that you receive from the Israelites. You must give that part to Aaron the priest.

29From all the gifts that the people give to you, you must make separate every offering that the Lord should have. The best part of each gift is the part that you must make separate for the Lord.”

30You must say to the Levites, “After you have made the best part of the gift separate for the priests, the other part will belong to the Levites. That will be the grain and the wine that you receive for your food.