Numbers 8:19

⁵³But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”

⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the LORD! The plague has begun.”

¹⁶But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly and he trespassed against the LORD his God, for he went into the LORD’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. ¹⁷Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, who were valiant men. ¹⁸They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from the LORD God.”

¹⁹Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the LORD’s house, beside the altar of incense. ²⁰Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead; and they thrust him out quickly from there. Indeed, he himself also hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him.

⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷They shall keep his requirements, and the requirements of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁸They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel.

²Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you; but you and your sons with you shall be before the Tent of the Testimony. ³They shall keep your commands and the duty of the whole Tent; only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they nor you. ⁴They shall be joined to you and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger shall not come near to you.

⁵“You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel. ⁶Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹²Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord GOD, “and they will bear their iniquity. ¹³They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service and for all that will be done therein.

¹⁹He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the LORD’s ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.

²⁸For their duty was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the LORD’s house—in the courts, in the rooms, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of God’s house; ²⁹for the show bread also, and for the fine flour for a meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all measurements of quantity and size; ³⁰and to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise in the evening; ³¹and to offer all burnt offerings to the LORD on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before the LORD; ³²and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers for the service of the LORD’s house.