Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from amongst the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.
“Behold, I have taken the Levites from amongst the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb amongst the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine,
“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn amongst the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am the LORD.
“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,
For all the firstborn amongst the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself.
At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the LORD’s covenant, to stand before the LORD to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.