Numbers 8:13-23

13 "You shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and before his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the LORD.

14 "Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and ¹the Levites shall be Mine.

15 "Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and ²present them as a wave offering;

16 for they are ³wholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself ⁴instead of every first issue of the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel.

17 "For ⁵every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the men and among the animals; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

18 "But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

19 "⁶I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no ⁷plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary."

20 Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel to the Levites; according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them.

21 ⁸The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.

22 Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; just as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement

23 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

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Numbers 8:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 8

In this chapter orders are given for the lighting the seven lamps of the candlestick, Nu 8:1-4; and for the consecration of the Levites to their office, by a purification of them, Nu 8:5-8; by a separation of them from the children of Israel, and the imposition of their hands on them, and of the hands of the Levites on the offerings offered for them, Nu 8:9-15; and being thus given to the Lord, and claimed as his, instead of the firstborn of Israel, they are given to Aaron and his sons to do service in the tabernacle, Nu 8:16-22; and their age at which they were to enter into service and cease from it is fixed, Nu 8:23-26.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 8

1. Numbers 3:12; Numbers 16:9
2. Exodus 29:24
3. Numbers 3:9
4. Exodus 13:2; Numbers 3:12, 45
5. Ex 13:2, 12, 13, 15; Luke 2:23
6. Numbers 3:9
7. Numbers 1:53; Numbers 16:46
8. Numbers 8:7

Footnotes 2

[a]. Lit "given ones"
[b]. Lit "the sons of Israel's"