Set aside a tribute for the Lord from what belongs to the fighting men who went out to war: one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.
‘Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you are to present part of it as an offering to the Lord #– #a tenth of the tenth.
Moses took one out of every fifty, selected from the people and the livestock of the Israelites’ half. He gave them to the Levites who perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, as the Lord had commanded him.
From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty from the people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats, all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle.’
Yes, the coasts and islands will wait for me with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your children from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the honour of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.
But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.
At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of Armies from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers #– #to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of Armies.
King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold he had carried off from all the nations #– #from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and the Amalekites.
On that day he made them woodcutters and water-carriers #– #as they are today #– #for the community and for the Lord’s altar at the place he would choose.