Numbers 8:14

14 In this way you will separate the Levites from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

Numbers 8:14 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 8:14

Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children
of Israel
By sprinkling the water of purification upon them; by offering sacrifices for them; by presenting them before the Lord, with the hands of the people of Israel put upon them; by offering and waving them before the Lord, and by setting them before Aaron and his sons, as their ministers:

and the Levites shall be mine:
in a special and peculiar manner devoted to his service, and by him given to his priests for that purpose; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,

``and the Levites shall minister before me.''

Numbers 8:14 In-Context

12 "The Levites will place their hands on the heads of the young bulls. Sacrifice one of them as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering to the LORD. These sacrifices will make peace with the LORD for the Levites.

13 Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and present them as an offering to the LORD.

14 In this way you will separate the Levites from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

15 "Once you have made them clean and presented them as an offering, the Levites may come and do their work at the tent of meeting.

16 They will be the only Israelites given to me. I have taken them to be mine as substitutes for every firstborn male offspring of the Israelites.