¹⁴ “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and ^(A)the Levites shall be mine. ¹⁵ And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a ^(B)wave offering. ¹⁶ For they are ^(C)wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. ^(D)Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. ^17 (E)For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, ¹⁸ and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.