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20 Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “You will not receive an inheritance in their land, and there will not be a plot of ground for you in the midst of the Israelites.[a]

21 “Behold, I have given to the descendants[b] of Levi every tithe in Israel as an inheritance in return for their service, which they are doing, the work of the tent of assembly. 22 The Israelites[c] will not come near again to the tent of assembly, or they will bear sin[d] and die. 23 The Levites[e] will perform the service of the tent of assembly, and they will bear their guilt, an eternal decree for all your generations. But they will not receive an inheritance in the midst of the Israelites[f] 24 because the tithes[g] of the Israelites[h] that are offered[i] to Yahweh as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I said to them, ‘They will not receive an inheritance in the midst of the Israelites.’”[j]

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 18:20 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. Numbers 18:21 Or “sons”
  3. Numbers 18:22 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  4. Numbers 18:22 The NRSV translates “they will incur guilt”
  5. Numbers 18:23 Hebrew “Levite”
  6. Numbers 18:23 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  7. Numbers 18:24 Hebrew “tithe”
  8. Numbers 18:24 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  9. Numbers 18:24 Hebrew “raised up”
  10. Numbers 18:24 Literally “sons/children of Israel”

20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. (A)I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

21 (B)“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 (C)so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, (D)lest they bear sin and die. 23 But (E)the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, (F)and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which (G)they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance (H)among the people of Israel.”

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