Numbers 8:14

14 Separate the Levites in this way from the rest of the Israelites, so that they will belong to me.

Numbers 8:14 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 8:14

Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children
of Israel
By sprinkling the water of purification upon them; by offering sacrifices for them; by presenting them before the Lord, with the hands of the people of Israel put upon them; by offering and waving them before the Lord, and by setting them before Aaron and his sons, as their ministers:

and the Levites shall be mine:
in a special and peculiar manner devoted to his service, and by him given to his priests for that purpose; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,

``and the Levites shall minister before me.''

Numbers 8:14 In-Context

12 The Levites shall then put their hands on the heads of the two bulls; one is to be offered as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, in order to perform the ritual of purification for the Levites.

13 "Dedicate the Levites as a special gift to me, and put Aaron and his sons in charge of them.

14 Separate the Levites in this way from the rest of the Israelites, so that they will belong to me.

15 After you have purified and dedicated the Levites, they will be qualified to work in the Tent.

16 I have claimed them in the place of all the first-born sons of the Israelites, and they belong to me alone.