Numbers 18:2-12

2 "But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ¹joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

3 "And they shall thus attend to your obligation and the obligation of all the tent, but ²they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and ³the altar, or both they and you will die.

4 "They shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but an outsider may not come near you.

5 "So you shall attend to the ⁴obligations of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar, ⁵so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel.

6 "Behold, I Myself ⁶have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ⁷a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to perform the service for the tent of meeting.

7 "But you and your sons with you shall ⁸attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside * the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as ⁹a bestowed service, but ¹⁰the outsider who comes near shall be put to death."

The Priests' Portion

8 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, "Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My ¹¹offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment.

9 "This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even ¹²every grain offering and every ¹³sin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

10 "As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

11 "This also is yours, ¹⁴the offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ¹⁵given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

12 "¹⁶All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the LORD, I give them to you.

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Numbers 18:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 18

This chapter gives an account of the distinct work and service of the priests and Levites, Nu 18:1-7; and of several things given to the priests for their maintenance, Nu 18:8-19; and of the tithes the Levites should have to live upon, since they were to have no inheritance in the land of Israel, Nu 18:20-24; and of the tenth out of those tithes they were to give to the high priest, Nu 18:25-32.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 16

1. Numbers 3:5-10
2. Numbers 4:15-20
3. Numbers 1:51; Numbers 18:7
4. Exodus 27:21; Leviticus 24:3
5. Numbers 16:46
6. Numbers 3:12, 45
7. Numbers 3:9
8. Exodus 29:9
9. Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 18:2; Matthew 10:8; 1 Peter 5:2, 3
10. Numbers 1:51
11. Leviticus 6:16, 18; Leviticus 7:28-34
12. Leviticus 2:1-16
13. Leviticus 6:30
14. Numbers 18:1; Deuteronomy 18:3
15. Leviticus 22:1-16
16. Deuteronomy 18:4; Deuteronomy 32:14; Psalms 81:16; Psalms 147:14

Footnotes 8

[a]. Lit "a stranger"
[b]. Lit "brethren the"
[c]. Lit "given"
[d]. Lit "service of gift"
[e]. Lit "stranger"
[f]. Lit "heave offerings," and so throughout the ch
[g]. Lit "fat"
[h]. Lit "fat"