Numbers 18:18-28

18 The meat of these animals will be yours, just like the breast and right thigh that are presented by lifting them up as a special offering before the altar.

19 Yes, I am giving you all these holy offerings that the people of Israel bring to the LORD . They are for you and your sons and daughters, to be eaten as your permanent share. This is an eternal and unbreakable covenant between the LORD and you, and it also applies to your descendants.”

20 And the LORD said to Aaron, “You priests will receive no allotment of land or share of property among the people of Israel. I am your share and your allotment.

21 As for the tribe of Levi, your relatives, I will compensate them for their service in the Tabernacle. Instead of an allotment of land, I will give them the tithes from the entire land of Israel.

22 “From now on, no Israelites except priests or Levites may approach the Tabernacle. If they come too near, they will be judged guilty and will die.

23 Only the Levites may serve at the Tabernacle, and they will be held responsible for any offenses against it. This is a permanent law for you, to be observed from generation to generation. The Levites will receive no allotment of land among the Israelites,

24 because I have given them the Israelites’ tithes, which have been presented as sacred offerings to the LORD . This will be the Levites’ share. That is why I said they would receive no allotment of land among the Israelites.”

25 The LORD also told Moses,

26 “Give these instructions to the Levites: When you receive from the people of Israel the tithes I have assigned as your allotment, give a tenth of the tithes you receive—a tithe of the tithe—to the LORD as a sacred offering.

27 The LORD will consider this offering to be your harvest offering, as though it were the first grain from your own threshing floor or wine from your own winepress.

28 You must present one-tenth of the tithe received from the Israelites as a sacred offering to the LORD . This is the LORD ’s sacred portion, and you must present it to Aaron the priest.

Numbers 18:18-28 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew a covenant of salt.