Numbers 18:8-15

Offerings for Priests and Levites

8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion, your perpetual share.

9 You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin^[a] or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons.

10 Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.

11 “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.

12 “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.

13 All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.

14 “Everything in Israel that is devoted^[b] to the LORD is yours.

15 The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.

Numbers 18:8-15 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.

Cross References

• 1. S Leviticus 2:2
• 2. Leviticus 6:16; Leviticus 7:6,31-34,36; Deuteronomy 18:1; 2 Chronicles 31:4
• 3. S Leviticus 6:17
• 4. Leviticus 2:1
• 5. Leviticus 6:25
• 6. S Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 7:7
• 7. S Leviticus 6:16
• 8. Leviticus 6:17,18
• 9. Exodus 29:26; Leviticus 7:30; Numbers 6:20
• 10. Leviticus 7:31-34
• 11. Leviticus 13:3; Leviticus 22:1-16
• 12. Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 11:14; Deuteronomy 12:17; Deuteronomy 28:51; 2 Kings 18:32; 2 Chronicles 31:5; Nehemiah 10:37; Jeremiah 31:12; Ezekiel 23:41; Hosea 2:8; Joel 1:10; Haggai 1:11
• 13. S Genesis 4:3
• 14. Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26; Nehemiah 10:35
• 15. S Exodus 29:27; Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:19
• 16. ver 11
• 17. S Leviticus 27:21; Joshua 6:17-19; Leviticus 27:28
• 18. Exodus 13:2
• 19. S Numbers 3:46
• 20. S Genesis 10:15
• 21. S Exodus 13:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "purification"
• [b]. The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord.