Numbers 8:13-23

13 You shall set the Levites before Aharon, and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to the LORD.
14 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Yisra'el, and the Levites shall be mine.
15 "After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting: and you shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering.
16 For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Yisra'el; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Yisra'el, I have taken them to me.
17 For all the firstborn among the children of Yisra'el are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Mitzrayim, I sanctified them for myself.
18 I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Yisra'el.
19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aharon and to his sons from among the children of Yisra'el, to do the service of the children of Yisra'el in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Yisra'el; that there be no plague among the children of Yisra'el, when the children of Yisra'el come near to the sanctuary."
20 Thus did Moshe, and Aharon, and all the congregation of the children of Yisra'el, to the Levites. According to all that the LORD commanded Moshe concerning the Levites, so the children of Yisra'el did to them.
21 The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aharon offered them for a wave offering before the LORD; and Aharon made atonement for them to cleanse them.
22 After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aharon, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moshe concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
23 The LORD spoke to Moshe, saying,

Numbers 8:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 8

In this chapter orders are given for the lighting the seven lamps of the candlestick, Nu 8:1-4; and for the consecration of the Levites to their office, by a purification of them, Nu 8:5-8; by a separation of them from the children of Israel, and the imposition of their hands on them, and of the hands of the Levites on the offerings offered for them, Nu 8:9-15; and being thus given to the Lord, and claimed as his, instead of the firstborn of Israel, they are given to Aaron and his sons to do service in the tabernacle, Nu 8:16-22; and their age at which they were to enter into service and cease from it is fixed, Nu 8:23-26.

The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.