Numbers 8:18

18 and I have taken the Levites in the place of every firstborn among the {Israelites}.

Numbers 8:18 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 8:18

And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the
children of Israel.
] Gave up his right in the firstborn, and instead of them took the Levites for his use and service: see ( Numbers 3:12 ) .

Numbers 8:18 In-Context

16 For they [are] given to me exclusively from the midst of the {Israelites}. I have taken them for myself in place of [the] firstborn of every womb, every firstborn from the {Israelites}.

17 For every firstborn among the {Israelites} [is] mine, both humankind and animal. On the day I destroyed every firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them to me,

18 and I have taken the Levites in the place of every firstborn among the {Israelites}.

19 And I have given the Levites; they are given to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the {Israelites} to do the work of the {Israelites} in the tent of the assembly and to make atonement for the {Israelites}, so a plague will not be among the {Israelites} when the {Israelites} come near the sanctuary."

20 And Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the {Israelites} did to the Levites; everything that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the {Israelites} did to them.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "sons/children of Israel"