Numbers 8:14

14 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Yisra'el, and the Levites shall 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 shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites.

13 You shall set the Levites before Aharon, and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to the LORD.

14 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Yisra'el, and the Levites shall be mine.

15 "After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting: and you shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering.

16 For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Yisra'el; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Yisra'el, I have taken them to me.