Numbers 8:7-17

7 This is what you should do to make them clean: Sprinkle the cleansing water on them, and have them shave their bodies and wash their clothes so they will be clean.
8 They must take a young bull and the grain offering of flour mixed with oil that goes with it. Then take a second young bull for a sin offering.
9 Bring the Levites to the front of the Meeting Tent, and gather all the Israelites around.
10 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the Israelites should put their hands on them.
11 Aaron will present the Levites before the Lord as an offering presented from the Israelites. Then the Levites will be ready to do the work of the Lord.
12 "The Levites will put their hands on the bulls' heads -- one bull will be a sin offering to the Lord, and the other will be a burnt offering, to remove the sins of the Levites so they will belong to the Lord.
13 Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and present the Levites as an offering to the Lord.
14 In this way you must set apart the Levites from the other Israelites; the Levites will be mine.
15 "Make the Levites pure, and present them as an offering so that they may come to work at the Meeting Tent.
16 They will be given completely to me from the Israelites; I have taken them for myself instead of the firstborn of every Israelite woman.
17 All the firstborn in Israel -- people or animals -- are mine. When I killed all the firstborn in Egypt, I set the firstborn in Israel aside for myself.

Numbers 8:7-17 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.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.