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. ²So 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. ^3-5Those 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. ⁶So 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. ⁷That 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): ⁸As 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. ⁹When 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. ¹⁰While recognizing its holiness, you and every Levite male should go ahead and eat it in the most holy place. ¹¹Also, 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. ¹²That 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. ^13-14The 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. ^15-16Likewise, 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). ¹⁷As 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. ¹⁸You can have the meat itself, though, just as you get to have the breast of an uplifted offering and the right thigh too. ¹⁹Everything 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. ^21-24Your 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) ²⁶Tell 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. ²⁷Tell 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. ²⁸In 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). ²⁹Out of everything you get, you should set aside the very best as a holy portion to Me. ³⁰After this, what’s left is absolutely yours, as if it is all the grain harvested and threshed and all the wine pressed and decanted. ³¹You 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. ³²After 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

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. ³They 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. ⁴They 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. ⁵You 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. ⁶I 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. ⁷But 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

⁸The 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. ⁹Of 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. ¹⁰You 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] ¹³And 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. ¹⁵The 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. ¹⁶And 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). ¹⁷But 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. ¹⁸And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours. ¹⁹All 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

²⁰The 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. ²¹See, 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. ²²No longer may the Israelites approach the tent of meeting, or else they will bear their sin^[s] and die. ²³But 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] ²⁴But 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

²⁵The 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. ²⁷And 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. ²⁸Thus 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. ²⁹From 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. ³¹And 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. ³²And 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).

The Voice (VOICE)

New English Translation (NET)

Numbers 18 The Voice