Numbers 18:6-16

6 "Behold, I Myself ¹have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ²a 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 ³attend 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 ⁴a bestowed service, but ⁵the 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 ⁶offerings, 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 ⁷every grain offering and every ⁸sin 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, ⁹the offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ¹⁰given 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 "¹¹All 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.

13 "¹²The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

14 "¹³Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

15 "¹⁴Every first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they offer to the LORD, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.

16 "As to their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your valuation, five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

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Numbers 18:6-16 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 14

1. Numbers 3:12, 45
2. Numbers 3:9
3. Exodus 29:9
4. Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 18:2; Matthew 10:8; 1 Peter 5:2, 3
5. Numbers 1:51
6. Leviticus 6:16, 18; Leviticus 7:28-34
7. Leviticus 2:1-16
8. Leviticus 6:30
9. Numbers 18:1; Deuteronomy 18:3
10. Leviticus 22:1-16
11. Deuteronomy 18:4; Deuteronomy 32:14; Psalms 81:16; Psalms 147:14
12. Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26
13. Leviticus 27:1-33
14. Exodus 13:13, 15; Numbers 3:46

Footnotes 10

[a]. Lit "brethren the"
[b]. Lit "given"
[c]. Lit "service of gift"
[d]. Lit "stranger"
[e]. Lit "heave offerings," and so throughout the ch
[f]. Lit "fat"
[g]. Lit "fat"
[h]. Lit "Everything that opens"
[i]. I.e. A shekel equals approx one-half oz
[j]. I.e. A shekel equals approx one-half oz