13. Tell the Levites to stand in front of Aaron and his sons. Then give the Levites to the Lord. They will be like an offering.
14. This will make the Levites holy. They will be different from the other Israelites. The Levites will belong to me.
15. “So make the Levites pure and give them to the Lord as a special offering. After you do this, they can come and do their work at the Meeting Tent.
16. The Israelites will give me the Levites. They will belong to me. In the past I told every Israelite family to give me their firstborn son. But now I am taking the Levites in place of these firstborn sons from the other families in Israel.
17. Every firstborn in Israel—man or animal—is mine, because I killed all the firstborn children and animals in Egypt. And I chose to take the firstborn sons to belong to me.