Duties of Priests and Levites

¹The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and the Levites must suffer the consequences of any guilt connected with serving in the Tent of my presence; but only you and your sons will suffer the consequences of service in the priesthood.

²Bring in your relatives, the tribe of Levi, to work with you and help you while you and your sons are serving at the Tent.

³They are to fulfill their duties to you and their responsibilities for the Tent, but they must not have any contact with sacred objects in the Holy Place or with the altar. If they do, both they and you will be put to death.

⁴They are to work with you and fulfill their responsibilities for all the service in the Tent, but no unqualified person may work with you.

⁵You and your sons alone must fulfill the responsibilities for the Holy Place and the altar, so that my anger will not again break out against the people of Israel.

⁶I am the one who has chosen your relatives the Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you. They are dedicated to me, so that they can carry out their duties in the Tent.

⁷But you and your sons alone shall fulfill all the responsibilities of the priesthood that concern the altar and what is in the Most Holy Place. These things are your responsibility, because I have given you the gift of the priesthood. Any unqualified person who comes near the sacred objects shall be put to death.”

The Share of the Priests

⁸The Lord said to Aaron, “Remember that I am giving you all the special contributions made to me that are not burned as sacrifices. I am giving them to you and to your descendants as the part assigned to you forever.

⁹Of the most sacred offerings not burned on the altar, the following belong to you: the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the repayment offerings. Everything that is presented to me as a sacred offering belongs to you and your sons.

¹⁰You must eat these things in a holy place, and only males may eat them; consider them holy.

¹¹“In addition, any other special contributions that the Israelites present to me shall be yours. I am giving them to you, your sons, and your daughters for all time to come. Every member of your family who is ritually clean may eat them.

¹²“I am giving you all the best of the first produce which the Israelites give me each year: olive oil, wine, and grain.

¹³It all belongs to you. Every member of your family who is ritually clean may eat it.

¹⁴“Everything in Israel that has been unconditionally dedicated to me belongs to you.

¹⁵“Every first-born child or animal that the Israelites present to me belongs to you. But you must accept payment to buy back every first-born child, and must also accept payment for every first-born animal that is ritually unclean.

¹⁶Children shall be bought back at the age of one month for the fixed price of five pieces of silver, according to the official standard.

¹⁷But the first-born of cows, sheep, and goats are not to be bought back; they belong completely to me and are to be sacrificed. Throw their blood against the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, an odor pleasing to me.

¹⁸The meat from them belongs to you, like the breast and the right hind leg of the special offering.

¹⁹“I am giving to you, to your sons, and to your daughters, for all time to come, all the special contributions which the Israelites present to me. This is an unbreakable covenant that I have made with you and your descendants.”

²⁰The Lord said to Aaron, “You will not receive any property that can be inherited, and no part of the land of Israel will be assigned to you. I, the Lord, am all you need.”

The Share of the Levites

²¹The Lord said, “I have given to the Levites every tithe that the people of Israel present to me. This is in payment for their service in taking care of the Tent of my presence.

²²The other Israelites must no longer approach the Tent and in this way bring on themselves the penalty of death.

²³From now on only the Levites will take care of the Tent and bear the full responsibility for it. This is a permanent rule that applies also to your descendants. The Levites shall have no permanent property in Israel,

²⁴because I have given to them as their possession the tithe which the Israelites present to me as a special contribution. That is why I told them that they would have no permanent property in Israel.”

The Levites' Tithe

²⁵The Lord commanded Moses

²⁶to say to the Levites: “When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that the Lord gives you as your possession, you must present a tenth of it as a special contribution to the Lord.

²⁷This special contribution will be considered as the equivalent of the offering which the farmer makes of new grain and new wine.

²⁸In this way you also will present the special contribution that belongs to the Lord from all the tithes which you receive from the Israelites. You are to give this special contribution for the Lord to Aaron the priest.

²⁹Give it from the best that you receive.

³⁰When you have presented the best part, you may keep the rest, just as the farmer keeps what is left after he makes his offering.

³¹You and your families may eat the rest anywhere, because it is your wages for your service in the Tent.

³²You will not become guilty when you eat it, as long as you have presented the best of it to the Lord. But be sure not to profane the sacred gifts of the Israelites by eating any of the gifts before the best part is offered; if you do, you will be put to death.”

The Cities of Refuge

¹“After the Lord your God has destroyed the people whose land he is giving you and after you have taken their cities and houses and settled there,

^2-3divide the territory into three parts, each with a city that can be easily reached. Then any of you that kill will be able to escape to one of them for protection.

⁴If you accidentally kill someone who is not your enemy, you may escape to any of these cities and be safe.

⁵For example, if two of you go into the forest together to cut wood and if, as one of you is chopping down a tree, the ax head comes off the handle and kills the other, you can run to one of those three cities and be safe.

⁶If there were only one city, the distance to it might be too great, and the relative who is responsible for taking revenge for the killing might catch you and angrily kill an innocent person. After all, it was by accident that you killed someone who was not your enemy.

⁷This is why I order you to set aside three cities.

⁸“When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he told your ancestors he would, and gives you all the land he has promised,

⁹then you are to select three more cities. (He will give you this land if you do everything that I command you today and if you love the Lord your God and live according to his teachings.)

¹⁰Do this, so that innocent people will not die and so that you will not be guilty of putting them to death in the land that the Lord is giving you.

¹¹“But suppose you deliberately murder your enemy in cold blood and then escape to one of those cities for protection.

¹²In that case, the leaders of your own town are to send for you and hand you over to the relative responsible for taking revenge for the murder, so that you may be put to death.

¹³No mercy will be shown to you. Israel must rid itself of murderers, so that all will go well.

Ancient Property Lines

¹⁴“Do not move your neighbor's property line, established long ago in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Concerning Witnesses

¹⁵“One witness is not enough to convict someone of a crime; at least two witnesses are necessary to prove that someone is guilty.

¹⁶If any of you try to harm another by false accusations,

¹⁷both of you are to go to the one place of worship and be judged by the priests and judges who are then in office.

¹⁸The judges will investigate the case thoroughly; and if you have made a false accusation,

¹⁹you are to receive the punishment the accused would have received. In this way your nation will get rid of this evil.

²⁰Then everyone else will hear what happened; they will be afraid, and no one will ever again do such an evil thing.

²¹In such cases show no mercy; the punishment is to be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Concerning War

¹“When you go out to fight against your enemies and you see chariots and horses and an army that outnumbers yours, do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who rescued you from Egypt, will be with you.

²Before you start fighting, a priest is to come forward and say to the army,

³‘Men of Israel, listen! Today you are going into battle. Do not be afraid of your enemies or lose courage or panic.

⁴The Lord your God is going with you, and he will give you victory.’

⁵“Then the officers will address the men and say, ‘Is there any man here who has just built a house, but has not yet dedicated it? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will dedicate his house.

⁶Is there any man here who has just planted a vineyard, but has not yet had the chance to harvest its grapes? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will enjoy the wine.

⁷Is there anyone here who is engaged to be married? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will marry the woman he is engaged to.’

⁸“The officers will also say to the men, ‘Is there any man here who has lost his nerve and is afraid? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, he will destroy the morale of the others.’

⁹When the officers have finished speaking to the army, leaders are to be chosen for each unit.

¹⁰“When you go to attack a city, first give its people a chance to surrender.

¹¹If they open the gates and surrender, they are all to become your slaves and do forced labor for you.

¹²But if the people of that city will not surrender, but choose to fight, surround it with your army.

¹³Then, when the Lord your God lets you capture the city, kill every man in it.

¹⁴You may, however, take for yourselves the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else in the city. You may use everything that belongs to your enemies. The Lord has given it to you.

¹⁵That is how you are to deal with those cities that are far away from the land you will settle in.

¹⁶“But when you capture cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, kill everyone.

¹⁷Completely destroy all the people: the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the Lord ordered you to do.

¹⁸Kill them, so that they will not make you sin against the Lord by teaching you to do all the disgusting things that they do in the worship of their gods.

¹⁹“When you are trying to capture a city, do not cut down its fruit trees, even though the siege lasts a long time. Eat the fruit, but do not destroy the trees; the trees are not your enemies.

²⁰You may cut down the other trees and use them in the siege mounds until the city is captured.

God the Supreme King

¹The Lord is king, and the people tremble. He sits on his throne above the winged creatures, and the earth shakes.

²The Lord is mighty in Zion; he is supreme over all the nations.

³Everyone will praise his great and majestic name. Holy is he!

⁴Mighty king, you love what is right; you have established justice in Israel; you have brought righteousness and fairness.

⁵Praise the Lord our God; worship before his throne! Holy is he!

⁶Moses and Aaron were his priests, and Samuel was one who prayed to him; they called to the Lord, and he answered them.

⁷He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they obeyed the laws and commands that he gave them.

⁸O Lord, our God, you answered your people; you showed them that you are a God who forgives, even though you punished them for their sins.

⁹Praise the Lord our God, and worship at his sacred hill! The Lord our God is holy.