1. When the Lord talked with Moses on Mount Sinai,
2. Aaron's four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar,
3. were the ones to be ordained as priests.
4. But the Lord killed Nadab and Abihu in the Sinai Desert when they used fire that was unacceptable in their offering to the Lord. And because Nadab and Abihu had no sons, only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests with their father Aaron.
5. The Lord said to Moses:
6. Assign the Levi tribe to Aaron the priest. They will be his assistants
7. and will work at the sacred tent for him and for all the Israelites.
8. The Levites will serve the community by being responsible for the furnishings of the tent.
9. They are assigned to help Aaron and his sons,
10. who have been appointed to be priests. Anyone else who tries to perform the duties of a priest must be put to death.
11-13. Moses, I have chosen these Levites from all Israel, and they will belong to me in a special way. When I killed the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, I decided that the firstborn sons in every Israelite family and the firstborn males of their flocks and herds would be mine. But now I accept these Levites in place of the firstborn sons of the Israelites.