Numbers 8:10-20

10 Present the Levites before God as the People of Israel lay their hands on them.
11 Aaron will present the Levites before God as a Wave-Offering from the People of Israel so that they will be ready to do God's work.
12 "Have the Levites place their hands on the heads of the bulls, selecting one for the Absolution-Offering and another for the Whole-Burnt-Offering to God to make atonement for the Levites.
13 Then have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and present them as a Wave-Offering to God.
14 This is the procedure for setting apart the Levites from the rest of the People of Israel; the Levites are exclusively for my use.
15 "After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a Wave-Offering to God, they can go to work in the Tent of Meeting.
16 The Levites have been selected out of the People of Israel for my exclusive use; they function in place of every firstborn male born to an Israelite woman.
17 Every firstborn male in Israel, animal or human, is set apart for my use. When I struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, I consecrated them for my holy uses.
18 But now I take the Levites as stand-ins in place of every firstborn son in Israel,
19 selected out of the People of Israel, and I have given the Levites to Aaron and his sons to do all the work involved in the Tent of Meeting on behalf of all the People of Israel and to make atonement for them so that nothing bad will happen to them when they approach the Sanctuary."
20 Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the People of Israel carried out these procedures with the Levites, just as God had commanded Moses.

Numbers 8:10-20 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.

Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.