^12 (A)you shall ^[a]devote to the Lord every firstborn of a womb, and every firstborn offspring of an animal that you own; the males belong to the Lord. ¹³ But ^(B)every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and ^(C)every ^[b]firstborn among your sons you shall redeem.

¹⁵ And it came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the ^(A)Lord put to death every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborns to animal firstborns. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, every firstborn of a womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’

²⁹ “^(A)You shall not hold back the offering from your entire harvest and your ^[a]wine. ^(B)The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.

²⁶ ‘^(A)However, a firstborn among animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no one may consecrate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s.

¹³ For ^(A)all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from the human firstborn to animals. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord.”

¹⁶ for they are ^(A)exclusively given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself ^(B)instead of the firstborn of every womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel. ¹⁷ For ^(C)every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the people and among the animals; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for Myself. ¹⁸ But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel. ¹⁹ And ^(D)I have given the Levites as ^[a]a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no ^(E)affliction among the sons of Israel due to ^[b]their approaching the sanctuary.”

²⁰ So this is what Moses, Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites; according to everything that the Lord had commanded Moses regarding the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them. ^21 (F)The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²² Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement for the Levites

²³ Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “This is what applies to the Levites: from ^(G)twenty-five years old and upward ^[c]they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting. ²⁵ But at the age of fifty years they shall ^[d]retire from service in the work and not work anymore. ²⁶ They may, however, ^[e]assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, ^(H)to fulfill an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. In this way you shall deal with the Levites in their obligations.”

^15 [a](A)Every firstborn of the womb of all flesh, whether human or animal, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours; however you must redeem the human firstborn, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.

¹⁹ “^(A)You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born in your herd and in your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “^(A)Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),