Numbers 18
The Voice
18 Eternal One (to Aaron): It’s on you and your sons and your extended family that the responsibility for this sanctuary lies. Any offense against the sacred meeting place, whether the sanctuary or the priesthood, is to be born by the members of your ancestral house. 2 So gather your extended family, your immediate family and those belonging to your staff, the tribe of Levi, so that they understand you’re all in this together. Your brothers from the greater Levi family will assist you while you and your sons come up to the tent holding the covenant. 3-5 Those Levites will answer to you and help out with the tent as a whole, but they absolutely may not touch the vessels of the sacred place or approach its altar. If they do, they and you will die. Also, an outsider may not approach you. This way, the whole congregation will be forever spared My destructive fury. 6 So I hereby appoint, as your assistants, your fellow Levites out of all of the Israelites. I give them to you as persons set apart for Me to do what is necessary for the maintenance of this congregation tent. 7 That way, you and your sons will be free to carefully attend the altar and My dwelling place behind the veil, which is forbidden to everyone else. Think of it as a kind of gift for the whole people, since it is fatal for anyone else to approach My sacred space.
Since the Levitical tribe inherits God Himself rather than a territory of land that they can farm and have for livestock, they are given a portion of the meat, grain, and drink offerings offered up by the people.
Eternal One (continuing to Aaron): 8 As for you in particular, everything people give to Me for all time, I put you in charge of and give to you and your sons as a priestly portion as a perpetual decree. 9 When anything the people give as an offering to Me isn’t burnt in its entirety, you will keep it—as the most holy items from the grain offerings, the sin or guilt offerings. All of this is most sacred to you and your sons. 10 While recognizing its holiness, you and every Levite male should go ahead and eat it in the most holy place. 11 Also, I am giving as a perpetual decree to you, your sons and daughters, too, whatever people raise up in offering to Me. Whoever is ritually pure from your house may eat from those offerings. 12 That includes, of course, the very best items—oil, wine, grain, and produce. Whatever people bring by way of offerings to Me, I give to you. 13-14 The first of the harvest and anything which is set aside for Me shall be yours; any in your family can eat from it, so long as he or she is ritually pure. 15-16 Likewise, the firstborn of men or animals, which are of course Mine, I hereby pass on to you. For the firstborn sons and ritually unclean animals should not be sacrificed; rather the people should simply pay five coins (calculated as the value of a one-month-old), each worth the two ounces (according to the sanctuary standard). 17 As for the other animals, the firstborn of a cow, a sheep, or a goat, you shall carry through on their sacrifice. They are indeed holy to Me. Make sure to throw some of their blood on the altar and incinerate their fat because it is to Me a soothing aroma. 18 You can have the meat itself, though, just as you get to have the breast of an uplifted offering and the right thigh too. 19 Everything sanctified and offered by the Israelites to Me, I am giving to you and your sons and your daughters as a perpetual decree. This is a binding agreement for all time—a covenant of salt, made in the presence of Me and preserved for you and your descendants after you.
20 (continuing to Aaron) And you’ll need these things because you are not allowed to own land or any part of it in the place I’ve promised. Rather, I am your portion and possession among the Israelites. 21-24 Your family, the Levites, shall not have any property, but they shall have what the Israelites bring to My tent as a tenth portion. Because the Levites alone can approach the congregation tent without dying and must do so to perform the necessary maintenance, but have no land of their own, they get to keep a tenth of the Israelites’ offerings.
25 (to Moses) 26 Tell the Levites that they should set aside a tenth portion of what they get from the Israelites’ sacrifices to give back to Me. In other words, they must give a tenth offering of the tenth offering given to them from the people of Israel. 27 Tell them, “This portion will be counted as your gift to Me, as if it is all the grain harvested and threshed and all the wine pressed and decanted. 28 In this way, you will be making an offering to Me from what you received from the Israelites (though you’ll do so by entrusting this tenth portion to the priest Aaron). 29 Out of everything you get, you should set aside the very best as a holy portion to Me. 30 After this, what’s left is absolutely yours, as if it is all the grain harvested and threshed and all the wine pressed and decanted. 31 You can eat and drink it anywhere—you and your whole household—because it’s what you’ve earned by working on behalf of the congregation tent. 32 After you’ve given up that superior portion, you may do with the rest as you wish. Just be careful that you treat the holy portion, what was set aside for Me by the Israelites, with utmost respect; or else you’ll die.”
Numbers 18
King James Version
18 And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.
4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.
5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for everything of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
8 And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.
9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of their's, every meat offering of their's, and every sin offering of their's, and every trespass offering of their's which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons.
10 In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.
11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.
12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee.
13 And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it.
14 Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.
15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.
16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the Lord.
18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.
19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee.
20 And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
22 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.
23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.
24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
25 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe.
27 And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.
28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the Lord'S heave offering to Aaron the priest.
29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the Lord, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.
30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.
31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.
32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.
Numbers 18
New English Translation
Responsibilities of the Priests
18 [a] The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe[b] with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary,[c] and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join[d] with you and minister to you while[e] you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3 They must be responsible to care for you and to care for the entire tabernacle. However, they must not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die. 4 They must join[f] with you, and they will be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, but no unauthorized person[g] may approach you. 5 You will be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the care of the altar, so that there will be[h] no more wrath on the Israelites. 6 I myself have chosen[i] your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties[j] of the tent of meeting. 7 But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service, but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”
The Portion of the Priests
8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion[k] and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance. 9 Of all the most holy offerings reserved[l] from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you.
11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.
12 “All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the firstfruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you.[m] 13 And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.
14 “Everything devoted[n] in Israel will be yours. 15 The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem,[o] and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem. 16 And those that must be redeemed you are to redeem when they are a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of silver according to the sanctuary shekel (which is twenty gerahs). 17 But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow or a sheep or a goat; they are holy. You must splash[p] their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours. 19 All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt[q] forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”
Duties of the Levites
20 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property[r] among them—I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. 21 See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service that they perform—the service of the tent of meeting. 22 No longer may the Israelites approach the tent of meeting, or else they will bear their sin[s] and die. 23 But the Levites must perform the service[t] of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity.[u] It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites[v] have no inheritance.[w] 24 But I have given[x] to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered[y] to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance.”
Instructions for the Levites
25 The Lord spoke to Moses: 26 “You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up[z] from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe. 27 And your raised offering will be credited[aa] to you as though it were grain from the threshing floor or as new wine[ab] from the winepress. 28 Thus you are to offer up a raised offering to the Lord of all your tithes that you receive from the Israelites; and you must give the Lord’s raised offering from it to Aaron the priest. 29 From all your gifts you must offer up every raised offering due[ac] the Lord, from all the best of it, and the holiest part of it.’[ad]
30 “Therefore you will say to them,[ae] ‘When you offer up[af] the best of it, then it will be credited to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the winepress. 31 And you may[ag] eat it in any place, you and your household, because it is your wages for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.’”[ah]
Footnotes
- Numbers 18:1 sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).
- Numbers 18:1 tn Heb “your father’s house.”
- Numbers 18:1 sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.
- Numbers 18:2 sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.
- Numbers 18:2 tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.
- Numbers 18:4 tn Now the sentence uses the Niphal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the same root לָוָה (lavah).
- Numbers 18:4 tn The word is “stranger, alien,” but it can also mean Israelites here.
- Numbers 18:5 tn The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect.
- Numbers 18:6 tn Heb “taken.”
- Numbers 18:6 tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (ʿavad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.
- Numbers 18:8 tn This is an uncommon root. It may be connected to the word “anoint” as here (see RSV). But it may also be seen as an intended parallel to “perpetual due” (see Gen 47:22; Exod 29:28; Lev 6:11 [HT]).
- Numbers 18:9 tn Heb “from the fire.” It probably refers to those parts that were not burned.
- Numbers 18:12 tn This form may be classified as a perfect of resolve—he has decided to give them to them, even though this is a listing of what they will receive.
- Numbers 18:14 tn The “ban” (חֵרֶם, kherem) in Hebrew describes that which is exclusively the Lord’s, either for his sanctuary use, or for his destruction. It seems to refer to an individual’s devoting something freely to God.
- Numbers 18:15 tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point—they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל (gaʾal) means to get back what was originally yours (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268).
- Numbers 18:17 tn Or “throw, toss.”
- Numbers 18:19 sn Salt was used in all the offerings; its importance as a preservative made it a natural symbol for the covenant which was established by sacrifice. Even general agreements were attested by sacrifice, and the phrase “covenant of salt” speaks of such agreements as binding and irrevocable. Note the expression in Ezra 4:14, “we have been salted with the salt of the palace.” See further J. F. Ross, IDB 4:167.
- Numbers 18:20 tn The phrase “of property” is supplied as a clarification.
- Numbers 18:22 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive construct of the verb “to bear” with the preposition ל (lamed) to express the result of such an action. “To bear their sin” would mean that they would have to suffer the consequences of their sin.
- Numbers 18:23 tn The verse begins with the perfect tense of עָבַד (ʿavad) with vav (ו) consecutive, making the form equal to the instructions preceding it. As its object the verb has the cognate accusative “service.”
- Numbers 18:23 sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.
- Numbers 18:23 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Numbers 18:23 tn The Hebrew text uses both the verb and the object from the same root to stress the point: They will not inherit an inheritance. The inheritance refers to land.
- Numbers 18:24 tn The classification of the perfect tense here too could be the perfect of resolve, since this law is declaring what will be their portion—“I have decided to give.”
- Numbers 18:24 tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject (although the “Israelites” is certainly intended), and so it can be rendered as a passive.
- Numbers 18:26 tn The verb in this clause is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it has the same force as an imperfect of instruction: “when…then you are to offer up.”
- Numbers 18:27 tn The verb is חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon; to count; to think”); it is the same verb used for “crediting” Abram with righteousness. Here the tithe of the priests will be counted as if it were a regular tithe.
- Numbers 18:27 tn Heb “fullness,” meaning the fullness of the harvest, i.e., a full harvest.
- Numbers 18:29 tn The construction is “every raised offering of the Lord”; the genitive here is probably to be taken as a genitive of worth—the offering that is due the Lord.
- Numbers 18:29 tn Or “its hallowed thing.”
- Numbers 18:30 tn The wording of this verse is confusing; it may be that it is addressed to the priests, telling them how to deal with the offerings of the Levites.
- Numbers 18:30 tn The clause begins with the infinitive construct with its preposition and suffixed subject serving to indicate the temporal clause.
- Numbers 18:31 tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of permission.
- Numbers 18:32 tn The final clause could also be rendered “in order that you do not die.” The larger section can also be interpreted differently; rather than take it as a warning, it could be taken as an assurance that when they do all of this they will not be profaning it and so will not die (R. K. Harrison, Numbers [WEC], 253).
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