Bmidbar (Numbers) - Chapter 8

8:1 Mar-Yah spoke to Mosha, saying, 8:2 "Speak to Aaron, and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the menorah.'"

8:3 Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the menorah, as Mar-Yah commanded Mosha. 8:4 This was the workmanship of the menorah, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work: according to the pattern which Mar-Yah had shown Mosha, so he made the menorah.

8:5 Mar-Yah spoke to Mosha, saying, 8:6 "Take the Levites from among the B'nai Yisrael, and cleanse them. 8:7 You shall do this to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. 8:8 Then let them take a young bull, and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering. 8:9 You shall present the Levites before the Tabernacle. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the B'nai Yisrael. 8:10 You shall present the Levites before Mar-Yah. The B'nai Yisrael shall lay their hands on the Levites, 8:11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Mar-Yah for a wave offering, on the behalf of the B'nai Yisrael, that it may be theirs to do the service of Mar-Yah.

8:12 "The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering to Mar-Yah, to make atonement for the Levites. 8:13 You shall set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to Mar-Yah. 8:14 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the B'nai Yisrael, and the Levites shall be mine.

8:15 "After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tabernacle: and you shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering. 8:16 For they are wholly given to me from among the B'nai Yisrael; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the B'nai Yisrael, I have taken them to me. 8:17 For all the firstborn among the B'nai Yisrael are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. 8:18 I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the B'nai Yisrael. 8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the B'nai Yisrael, to do the service of the B'nai Yisrael in the Tabernacle, and to make atonement for the B'nai Yisrael; that there be no plague among the B'nai Yisrael, when the B'nai Yisrael come near to the sanctuary."

8:20 Mosha, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the B'nai Yisrael did so to the Levites. According to all that Mar-Yah commanded Mosha concerning the Levites, so the B'nai Yisrael did to them. 8:21 The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Mar-Yah; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 8:22 After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tabernacle before Aaron, and before his sons: as Mar-Yah had commanded Mosha concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

8:23 Mar-Yah spoke to Mosha, saying, 8:24 "This is that which belongs to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tabernacle; 8:25 and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting on the work, and shall serve no more, 8:26 but shall minister with their brothers in the Tabernacle, to perform the duty, and shall do no service. You shall do thus to the Levites concerning their duties."