Numbers 8:5-26

5Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6“Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and 1cleanse them. 7This is what you shall do to them, for their cleansing: sprinkle 2purifying 3water on them, and have them 45use a razor over their whole 6body, and they shall 7wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. 8Then have them take a 8bull with 9its grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and you shall take a second 10bull as a sin offering. 9So 11you shall present the Levites in front of the tent of meeting. 12You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, 10and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel 13shall lay their hands on the Levites. 11Aaron then shall 14present the Levites before the Lord as a 15wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may 16qualify to perform the service of the Lord. 12Now 17the 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 18the Levites shall be Mine. 15Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and 19present them as a wave offering; 16for they are 20exclusively given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself 21instead of the firstborn of every womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel. 17For 22every 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 23I have given the Levites as 24a 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 25affliction among the sons of Israel due to 26their 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. 2127The 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. 22Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

23Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24“This is what applies to the Levites: from 28twenty-five years old and upward 29they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting. 25But at the age of fifty years they shall 30retire from service in the work and not work anymore. 26They may, however, 31assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, 32to fulfill an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. In this way you shall deal with the Levites in their obligations.”