And the Lord spake unto Moses Continued to speak unto him, and give him the reason of his appointing the Levites to minister to the priests and serve the tabernacle:
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And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel, instead of all the first-born that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;
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Because all the first-born [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I hallowed to me all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast: mine they shall be: I [am] the LORD.