Numbers 18:23-24

18:23 But the Levites must perform the service ¹  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ²  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ³  have no inheritance. ⁴  18:24 But I have given ⁵  to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered ⁶  to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance.”

Numbers 26:62

26:62 Those of them who were numbered were 23,000, all males from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the Israelites; no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.

Deuteronomy 10:9

10:9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance ⁷  among his brothers; ⁸  the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him.

Deuteronomy 12:12

12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages ⁹  (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 14:27

14:27 As for the Levites in your villages, you must not ignore them, for they have no allotment or inheritance along with you.

Deuteronomy 14:29

14:29 Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.

Joshua 14:3

14:3 Now Moses had assigned land ¹¹  to the two-and-a-half tribes east of the Jordan, but he assigned no land ¹²  to the Levites. ¹³ 

¹ tn The verse begins with the perfect tense of עָבַד (’avad) with vav (ו) consecutive, making the form equal to the instructions preceding it. As its object the verb has the cognate accusative “service.”

² sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses both the verb and the object from the same root to stress the point: They will not inherit an inheritance. The inheritance refers to land.

⁵ tn The classification of the perfect tense here too could be the perfect of resolve, since this law is declaring what will be their portion – “I have decided to give.”

⁶ tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject (although the “Israelites” is certainly intended), and so it can be rendered as a passive.

⁷ sn Levi has no allotment or inheritance. As the priestly tribe, Levi would have no land allotment except for forty-eight towns set apart for their use (Num 35:1-8; Josh 21:1-42). But theirs was a far greater inheritance, for the Lord himself was their apportionment, that is, service to him would be their full-time and lifelong privilege (Num 18:20-24; Deut 18:2; Josh 13:33).

⁸ tn That is, among the other Israelite tribes.

⁹ tn Heb “within your gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “who belongs to your community.”

¹⁰ sn They have no allotment or inheritance with you. See note on the word “inheritance” in Deut 10:9.

¹¹ tn Or “assigned an inheritance.”

¹² tn Or “no inheritance.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew text adds, “in their midst.”