Numbers 8:11-21

11Aaron then shall 1present the Levites before the Lord as a 2wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may 3qualify to perform the service of the Lord. 12Now 4the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then you are to offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. 13And you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the Lord.

14“So you shall single out the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and 5the Levites shall be Mine. 15Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and 6present them as a wave offering; 16for they are 7exclusively given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself 8instead of the firstborn of every womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel. 17For 9every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the people and among the animals; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for Myself. 18But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel. 19And 10I have given the Levites as 11a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no 12affliction among the sons of Israel due to 13their approaching the sanctuary.”

20So this is what Moses, Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites; according to everything that the Lord had commanded Moses regarding the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them. 2114The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.