Deuteronomy 10:8

10:8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ¹  to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings ²  in his name, as they do to this very day.

Deuteronomy 17:12

17:12 The person who pays no attention ³  to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel.

Deuteronomy 21:5

21:5 Then the Levitical priests ⁴  will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, ⁵  and to decide ⁶  every judicial verdict ⁷ )

¹ sn The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi. This was not the initial commissioning of the tribe of Levi to this ministry (cf. Num 3:11-13; 8:12-26), but with Aaron’s death it seemed appropriate to Moses to reiterate Levi’s responsibilities. There is no reference in the Book of Numbers to this having been done, but the account of Eleazar’s succession to the priesthood there (Num 20:25-28) would provide a setting for this to have occurred.

² sn To formulate blessings. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24-26.

³ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).

⁵ tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”

⁶ tn Heb “in the name of the Lord.” See note on Deut 10:8. The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁷ tn Heb “by their mouth.”

⁸ tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”