Numbers 8:17

17 For all the firstborn among the people of Isra'el are mine, both humans and animals; on the day I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set them apart for myself.

Numbers 8:17 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 8:17

For all the firstborn of the children of Israel [are] mine,
[both] men and beasts
Not only in common with other of his creatures, but in a special respect on account of his signal deliverance of them; they were his, as Jarchi expresses it, by the line of judgment, or rule of justice and equity, because he protected them among the firstborn of the Egyptians, saved them when he slew theirs, as follows:

in the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt;
both of men and beasts:

I sanctified them for myself;
claimed them as his own, and set them apart for his own use, or ordered them to be set apart: see ( Exodus 13:2 ) .

Numbers 8:17 In-Context

15 "After that, the L'vi'im will enter and do the service of the tent of meeting. You will cleanse them and offer them as a wave offering,

16 because they are entirely given to me from among the people of Isra'el; I have taken them for myself in place of all those who come first out of the womb, that is, the firstborn males of the people of Isra'el.

17 For all the firstborn among the people of Isra'el are mine, both humans and animals; on the day I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set them apart for myself.

18 But I have taken the L'vi'im in place of all the firstborn among the people of Isra'el,

19 and I have given the L'vi'im to Aharon and his sons from among the people of Isra'el to do the service of the people of Isra'el in the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Isra'el, so that no plague will fall on the people of Isra'el in consequence of their coming too close to the sanctuary."