Numbers 8
English Standard Version
The Seven Lamps
8 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.” 3 And Aaron did so: he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. 4 And (A)this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
Cleansing of the Levites
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. 7 Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the (B)water of purification upon them, and (C)let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. 8 Then let them take a bull from the herd and (D)its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, (E)and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering. 9 (F)And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting (G)and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel. 10 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel (H)shall lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord. 12 Then the Levites (I)shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer (J)the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. 13 And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as (K)a wave offering to the Lord.
14 “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and (L)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 (M)wave offering. 16 For they are (N)wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. (O)Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. 17 (P)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. 19 (Q)And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and (R)to make atonement for the people of Israel, (S)that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”
20 Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them. 21 And (T)the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and (U)Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 22 And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
Retirement of the Levites
23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This applies to the Levites: (V)from twenty-five years old and upward they[a] shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. 25 And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. 26 They minister[b] to their brothers in the tent of meeting (W)by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 8:24 Hebrew he; also verses 25, 26
- Numbers 8:26 Hebrew He ministers
Numbers 8
New American Standard Bible
The Seven Lamps
8 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you [a]mount the lamps, the seven lamps will (A)provide light in the front of the lampstand.’” 3 Therefore Aaron did so; he [b]mounted its lamps at the front of the lampstand, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 4 (B)Now this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flower ornamentation it was hammered work; (C)according to the [c]pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
Cleansing the Levites
5 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and (D)cleanse them. 7 This is what you shall do to them, for their cleansing: sprinkle [d]purifying (E)water on them, and have them [e](F)use a razor over their whole [f]body, and they shall (G)wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. 8 Then have them take a [g]bull with (H)its grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and you shall take a second [h]bull as a sin offering. 9 So (I)you shall present the Levites in front of the tent of meeting. (J)You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, 10 and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel (K)shall lay their hands on the Levites. 11 Aaron then shall [i]present the Levites before the Lord as a (L)wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may [j]qualify to perform the service of the Lord. 12 Now (M)the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then you are to offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 And you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the Lord.
14 “So you shall single out the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and (N)the Levites shall be Mine. 15 Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and (O)present them as a wave offering; 16 for they are (P)exclusively given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself (Q)instead of the firstborn of every womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel. 17 For (R)every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the people and among the animals; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for Myself. 18 But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel. 19 And (S)I have given the Levites as [k]a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no (T)affliction among the sons of Israel due to [l]their approaching the sanctuary.”
20 So this is what Moses, Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites; according to everything that the Lord had commanded Moses regarding the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them. 21 (U)The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them. 22 Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
Retirement for the Levites
23 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This is what applies to the Levites: from (V)twenty-five years old and upward [m]they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting. 25 But at the age of fifty years they shall [n]retire from service in the work and not work anymore. 26 They may, however, [o]assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, (W)to fulfill an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. In this way you shall deal with the Levites in their obligations.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 8:2 Lit put up
- Numbers 8:3 Lit put up
- Numbers 8:4 Lit appearance
- Numbers 8:7 Lit water of expiation
- Numbers 8:7 Lit cause to pass
- Numbers 8:7 Lit flesh
- Numbers 8:8 Lit bull, a son of the herd
- Numbers 8:8 Lit bull, a son of the herd
- Numbers 8:11 Lit wave, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 8:11 Lit be to perform
- Numbers 8:19 Lit given ones
- Numbers 8:19 Lit the sons of Israel’s
- Numbers 8:24 Lit he
- Numbers 8:25 Lit return
- Numbers 8:26 Lit serve
4 Mosebok 8
Swedish New Living Bible (Nya Levande Bibeln)
Oljelamporna i ljusstaken
8 Herren sa till Mose:
2 Säg till Aron att de sju oljelamporna i ljusstaken ska riktas framåt så att skenet kastas framför ljusstaken.
3 Aron gjorde så.
4 Ljusstaken var gjord av hamrat, rent guld från foten och ut till de blommor den var dekorerad med. Den var tillverkad exakt efter den förebild Herren hade visat Mose.
Leviterna avskiljs till tjänst inför Herren
5-6 Sedan sa Herren till Mose: Skilj leviterna från det övriga folket i Israel.
7 Gör det genom att stänka reningsvatten på dem, och låt dem sedan raka hela kroppen och tvätta sina kläder.
8 Se till att de bär fram en ung tjur och ett spisoffer av fint mjöl blandat med olja, tillsammans med ännu en ung tjur till syndoffer.
9 För sedan fram leviterna till tabernaklets ingång medan allt folket ser på.
10 Där ska folket lägga händerna på dem
11 och Aron ska föra fram dem inför Herren som ett viftoffer från hela Israels folk. Leviterna ska representera allt folket i sin tjänst inför Herren.
12 Sedan ska de lägga händerna på de unga tjurarnas huvuden och offra dem inför Herren. Den ena ska offras som syndoffer och den andra som brännoffer, för att skaffa försoning åt leviterna.
13 Därefter ska leviterna föras fram inför Aron och hans söner för att ges till Herren som ett viftoffer.
14 På så sätt har du avskilt leviterna från det övriga folket i Israel, och leviterna ska tillhöra mig.
15 När du har invigt dem och överlämnat dem på detta sätt, ska de få gå ut och in i tabernaklet för att utföra sina sysslor.
16 De tillhör mig som en gåva från Israels folk, och jag har tagit emot dem i stället för alla förstfödda barn i Israel. Ja, jag har tagit leviterna som ersättning för dem,
17 för alla förstfödda bland folket i Israel tillhör mig, både bland människor och djur. Jag gjorde anspråk på dem den natt då jag dödade allt förstfött bland egyptierna.
18 Ja, jag har tagit emot leviterna som ersättning för de äldsta sönerna i Israel,
19 och jag ska ge leviterna som gåva till Aron och hans söner. Leviterna ska för folkets räkning utföra de heliga tjänsterna i tabernaklet och skaffa försoning för folket genom att utföra offertjänsten åt dem. Ingen i Israel kommer att drabbas av pest eller andra plågor, som de annars skulle ha riskerat genom att komma för nära tabernaklet.
20 Mose och Aron och allt folket invigde alltså leviterna och följde mycket noga de föreskrifter som Herren gett Mose.
21 Leviterna renade sig och tvättade sina kläder, och Aron förde fram dem till Herren som ett viftoffer och utförde försoningsceremonin över dem för att rena dem.
22 Därefter gick de in i tabernaklet, som medhjälpare åt Aron och hans söner, och allting utfördes precis som Herren hade befallt Mose.
23-24 Och Herren sa till Mose: Alla leviter som är minst tjugofem år kan börja tjänstgöra i tabernaklet. Vid femtio ska de dra sig tillbaka.
25-26 När de slutat sin aktiva tjänst kan de hjälpa sina bröder, men de får inte utföra en prästs uppgifter.
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