1 And LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When thou light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick.
3 And Aaron did so. He lit the lamps of it in front of the candlestick, as LORD commanded Moses.
4 And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold. To the base of it, [and] to the flowers of it, it was beaten work. According to the pattern which LORD had shown Moses, so he made the candlestick.
5 And LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
6 Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and cleanse them.
7 And thus thou shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.
8 Then let them take a young bullock, and its meal-offering--fine flour mingled with oil. And thou shall take another young bullock for a sin-offering.
9 And thou shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. And thou shall assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,
10 and thou shall present the Levites before LORD. And the sons of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites.
11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites before LORD for a wave-offering on the behalf of the sons of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of LORD.
12 And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks, and offer thou the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, to LORD, to make atonement for the Levites.
13 And thou shall set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave-offering to LORD.
14 Thus shall thou separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
15 And after that the Levites shall go in to do the service of the tent of meeting. And thou shall cleanse them, and offer them for a wave-offering.
16 For they are wholly given to me from among the sons of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the first-born of all the sons of Israel, I have taken them to me.
17 For all the first-born among the sons of Israel are mine, both man and beast. On the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself.
18 And I have taken the Levites instead of all the first-born among the sons of Israel.
19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to do the service of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the sons of Israel, that there be no plague am
20 Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the Levites. According to all that LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them.
21 And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes. And Aaron offered them for a wave-offering before LORD, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.
22 And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons. As LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
23 And LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
24 This is that which belongs to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service in the work of the tent of meeting.
25 And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the work, and shall serve no more,
26 but shall minister with their brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shall thou do to the Levites concerning their charges.