You must also do this for your oxen and for your sheep; seven days they may remain with their mothers, but give them to me on the eighth day.

“You will be holy people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. You must throw it to the dogs.

They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

“Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me; from every person motivated by a willing heart you are to receive my offering.

You are to speak to all who are specially skilled, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron’s garments to set him apart to minister as my priest.

“You are to clothe them – your brother Aaron and his sons with him – and anoint them and ordain them and set them apart as holy, so that they may minister as my priests.

“Now this is what you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young bull and two rams without blemish;

“So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me.

Be prepared in the morning, and go up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and station yourself for me there on the top of the mountain.

and anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may minister as my priests; their anointing will make them a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.”

because the Israelites are my own servants; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

“‘If you walk in hostility against me and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction seven times according to your sins.

“Look, I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. And the Levites will be mine. I am the Lord.

From where shall I get meat to give to this entire people, for they cry to me, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat!’

But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.”

Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

“Look, a nation has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Come now and put a curse on them for me; perhaps I will be able to defeat them and drive them out.”

For I will honor you greatly, and whatever you tell me I will do. So come, put a curse on this nation for me.’”

Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying, “Balak, the king of Moab, brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, ‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’