Numbers 18:8-32

The Priests' Portion

8 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, "Now behold, I Myself have given you charge of My ¹offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment.

9 "This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even ²every grain offering and every ³sin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

10 "As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

11 "This also is yours, ⁴the offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ⁵given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

12 "⁶All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the LORD, I give them to you.

13 "⁷The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

14 "⁸Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

15 "⁹Every first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they offer to the LORD, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.

16 "As to their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your valuation, five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

17 "But ¹⁰the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. ¹¹You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the LORD.

18 "Their meat shall be yours; it shall be yours like the ¹²breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh.

19 "¹³All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. It is ¹⁴an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD to you and your descendants with you."

20 Then the LORD said to Aaron, "¹⁵You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; ¹⁶I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

21 "To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the ¹⁷tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.

22 "¹⁸The sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die.

23 "Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall ¹⁹bear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel ²⁰they shall have no inheritance.

24 "For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore * I have said concerning them, '²¹They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.' "

25 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

26 "Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, 'When you take from the sons of Israel ²²the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the LORD, a ²³tithe of the tithe.

27 'Your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat.

28 'So you shall also present an offering to the LORD from your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the LORD'S offering to Aaron the priest.

29 'Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the LORD, from all the best of them, the sacred part from them.'

30 "You shall say to them, 'When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor, and as the product of the wine vat.

31 'You may eat it anywhere *, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting.

32 'You will bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not ²⁴profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, or you will die.' "

Numbers 18:8-32 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.

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 6:16, 18; Leviticus 7:28-34
• 2. Leviticus 2:1-16
• 3. Leviticus 6:30
• 4. Numbers 18:1; Deuteronomy 18:3
• 5. Leviticus 22:1-16
• 6. Deuteronomy 18:4; Deuteronomy 32:14; Psalms 81:16; Psalms 147:14
• 7. Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26
• 8. Leviticus 27:1-33
• 9. Exodus 13:13, 15; Numbers 3:46
• 10. Deuteronomy 15:19
• 11. Leviticus 3:2
• 12. Leviticus 7:31
• 13. Numbers 18:11
• 14. 2 Chronicles 13:5
• 15. Deuteronomy 10:9; Deuteronomy 12:12; Deuteronomy 14:27, 29
• 16. Deuteronomy 18:2; Joshua 13:33; Ezekiel 44:28
• 17. Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-29
• 18. Numbers 1:51
• 19. Numbers 18:1
• 20. Numbers 18:20
• 21. Deuteronomy 10:9
• 22. Numbers 18:21
• 23. Nehemiah 10:38
• 24. Leviticus 22:15, 16

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "heave offerings," and so throughout the ch
• [b]. Lit "fat"
• [c]. Lit "fat"
• [d]. Lit "Everything that opens"
• [e]. I.e. A shekel equals approx one-half oz
• [f]. I.e. A shekel equals approx one-half oz
• [g]. Lit "flesh"
• [h]. Lit "seed"
• [i]. Lit "fat"
• [j]. Lit "its"
• [k]. Lit "lifted"
• [l]. Lit "lifted"
• [m]. Lit "fat"