Numbers 8:20

20 And Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the {Israelites} did to the Levites; everything that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the {Israelites} did to them.

Numbers 8:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 8:20

And Moses and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children
of Israel
The several parties concerned in the consecration of the Levites: these did to the Levites according unto all that the Lord commanded Moses,
so did the children of Israel unto them:
which, as Jarchi notes, is said to the praise of them that did it, and of what was done by them; everything was done that was ordered, and in the manner in which it was prescribed; Moses sprinkled, or ordered to be sprinkled, the water of purification on them, and set them before the tabernacle, and before the Lord; the children of Israel laid their hands on them, and Aaron waved them, offered the sacrifices for them.

Numbers 8:20 In-Context

18 and I have taken the Levites in the place of every firstborn among the {Israelites}.

19 And I have given the Levites; they are given to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the {Israelites} to do the work of the {Israelites} in the tent of the assembly and to make atonement for the {Israelites}, so a plague will not be among the {Israelites} when the {Israelites} come near the sanctuary."

20 And Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the {Israelites} did to the Levites; everything that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the {Israelites} did to them.

21 And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their garments, and {Aaron offered them} [as] a wave offering {before Yahweh}; and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them.

22 After this the Levites came to do their work in the tent of assembly before Aaron and his sons. Just as Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levities, so they did to them.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [b]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"