1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:
2 “Say this to Aaron: Set up the lamps, so that the seven lamps throw their light toward the front of the lampstand.”
3 Aaron set up the lamps to the front of the lampstand, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
4 This lampstand was made of hammered gold; from its stem to its petals, it was of hammered gold. This lampstand had been made according to the pattern Yahweh had shown to Moses.
The Levites are offered to Yahweh
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:
6 “Sep arate the Levites from the other Israelites and purify them.
7 You shall sprinkle them with the water of purification, and they shall shave their bodies all over and wash their clothing. They will then be clean.
8 They shall next take a young bull, with the accompanying grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take a second young bull for a sacrifice for sin.
9 Then bring the Levites before the Tent of Meeting, and call together the whole community of Israel.
10 When you have brought the Levites before Yahweh, the sons of Israel must lay their hands on them.
11 Aaron shall then offer the Levites, and make the gesture of offering waving them before Yahweh on behalf of the Israelites. From that time, they will be dedicated to the service of Yahweh.
12 The Levites must then lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, one of which you are to offer as a sacrifice for sin, and the other as a burnt offering to Yahweh; this is the rite of atonement for the Levites.
13 Having brought the Levites before Aaron and his sons, you will present them to Yahweh and wave them before him.
14 So you shall set the Levites apart from the rest of the sons of Israel, so that they may be mine.
15 The Levites may begin their ministry in the Tent of Meeting when you have purified them and offered them with the gesture of offering.
16 They are given me from among all the sons of Israel. They are to replace all the firstborn of all the sons of Israel. I have taken them for my own.
17 For all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, man and beast, belong to me: the day I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them to myself,
18 and now, in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, I have taken the Levites.
19 But now I give them to Aaron and his sons from among the sons of Israel and they will minister in the Tent of Meeting on behalf of the sons of Israel, and perform the rite of atonement over them, so that none of the sons of Israel may be struck down for approaching the sanctuary.”
20 Moses, Aaron and the whole community of the sons of Israel dealt with the Levites exactly as Yahweh had ordered Moses; this is what the sons of Israel did with them.
21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them and waved them before Yahweh. Then he performed the rite of atonement over them.
22 The Levites were then allowed to perform their ministry in the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. As Yahweh had ordered Moses concerning the Levites, so it was done to them.
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:
24 “This concerns the Levites. The Levite shall exercise his ministry and do his duties in the Tent of Meeting from the age of twenty-four onward.
25 After the age of fifty, he is no longer bound to the ministry; he shall have no further duties;
26 but he can still help his brothers to perform the services in the Tent of Meeting, though he himself will no longer have any ministry. See that this is the rule for the ministry of the Levites.”