1 Corinthians 10:18

10:18 Look at the people of Israel. ¹  Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?

Leviticus 6:16-18

6:16 Aaron and his sons are to eat what is left over from it. It must be eaten unleavened in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Meeting Tent. 6:17 It must not be baked with yeast. ²  I have given it as their portion from my gifts. It is most holy, ³  like the sin offering and the guilt offering. 6:18 Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it. It is a perpetual allotted portion ⁴  throughout your generations ⁵  from the gifts of the Lord. Anyone who touches these gifts ⁶  must be holy.’” ⁷ 

Leviticus 6:26

6:26 The priest who offers it for sin is to eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the Meeting Tent.

Leviticus 7:6-8

7:6 Any male among the priests may eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy. ⁸  7:7 The law is the same for the sin offering and the guilt offering; ⁹  it belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it.

Priestly Portions of Burnt and Grain Offerings

7:8 “‘As for the priest who presents someone’s burnt offering, the hide of that burnt offering which he presented belongs to him.

Numbers 5:9-10

5:9 Every offering ¹⁰  of all the Israelites’ holy things that they bring to the priest will be his. 5:10 Every man’s holy things ¹¹  will be his; whatever any man gives the priest will be his.’”

Numbers 18:8-20

The Portion of the Priests

18:8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion ¹²  and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance. 18:9 Of all the most holy offerings reserved ¹³  from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. 18:10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you.

18:11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

18:12 “All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you. ¹⁴  18:13 And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

18:14 “Everything devoted ¹⁵  in Israel will be yours. 18:15 The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, ¹⁶  and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem. 18:16 And those that must be redeemed you are to redeem when they are a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of silver according to the sanctuary shekel (which is twenty gerahs). 18:17 But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow or a sheep or a goat; they are holy. You must splash ¹⁷  their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18:18 And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours. 18:19 All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt ¹⁸  forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”

Duties of the Levites

18:20 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property ¹⁹  among them – I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

Deuteronomy 10:9

10:9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance ²⁰  among his brothers; ²¹  the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him.

Deuteronomy 18:1-5

Provision for Priests and Levites

18:1 The Levitical priests ²²  – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. ²³  18:2 They ²⁴  will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; ²⁵  the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them. 18:3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment ²⁶  from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep – they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach. 18:4 You must give them the best of your ²⁷  grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks. 18:5 For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand ²⁸  and serve in his name ²⁹  permanently.

Deuteronomy 18:1

Provision for Priests and Levites

18:1 The Levitical priests ³⁰  – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. ³¹ 

Deuteronomy 2:28

2:28 Sell me food for cash ³²  so that I can eat and sell me water to drink. ³³  Just allow me to go through on foot,

[10:18]  ¹ tn Grk “Israel according to (the) flesh.”

[6:17]  ² tn Heb “It must not be baked leavened” (cf. Lev 2:11). The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

[6:17]  ³ tn Heb “holiness of holinesses [or holy of holies] it is”; cf. NAB “most sacred.”

[6:18]  ⁴ tn Or “a perpetual regulation”; cf. NASB “a permanent ordinance”; NRSV “as their perpetual due.”

[6:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “for your generations”; cf. NIV “for the generations to come.”

[6:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “touches them”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In this context “them” must refer to the “gifts” of the Lord.

[6:18]  ⁷ tn Or “anyone/anything that touches them shall become holy” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:443-56). The question is whether this refers to the contagious nature of holy objects (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) or whether it simply sets forth a demand that anyone who touches the holy gifts of the Lord must be a holy person (cf. CEV). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:900-902.

[7:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “holiness of holinesses [or holy of holies] it is”; NAB “most sacred”; TEV “very holy.”

[7:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “like the sin offering like the guilt offering, one law to them.”

[5:9]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah) seems to be a general word for any offering that goes to the priests (see J. Milgrom, Studies in Cultic Theology and Terminology [SJLA 36], 159-72).

[5:10]  ¹¹ sn The “holy gifts” are described with the root of קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh) to convey that they were separate. Such things had been taken out of the ordinary and normal activities of life.

[18:8]  ¹² tn This is an uncommon root. It may be connected to the word “anoint” as here (see RSV). But it may also be seen as an intended parallel to “perpetual due” (see Gen 47:22; Exod 29:28; Lev 6:11 [HT]).

[18:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the fire.” It probably refers to those parts that were not burned.

[18:12]  ¹⁴ tn This form may be classified as a perfect of resolve – he has decided to give them to them, even though this is a listing of what they will receive.

[18:14]  ¹⁵ tn The “ban” (חֵרֶם, kherem) in Hebrew describes that which is exclusively the Lord’s, either for his sanctuary use, or for his destruction. It seems to refer to an individual’s devoting something freely to God.

[18:15]  ¹⁶ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point – they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל (ga’al) means to get back what was originally yours (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268).

[18:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “throw, toss.”

[18:19]  ¹⁸ sn Salt was used in all the offerings; its importance as a preservative made it a natural symbol for the covenant which was established by sacrifice. Even general agreements were attested by sacrifice, and the phrase “covenant of salt” speaks of such agreements as binding and irrevocable. Note the expression in Ezra 4:14, “we have been salted with the salt of the palace.” See further J. F. Ross, IDB 4:167.

[18:20]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “of property” is supplied as a clarification.

[10:9]  ²⁰ 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).

[10:9]  ²¹ tn That is, among the other Israelite tribes.

[18:1]  ²² tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.

[18:1]  ²³ sn Of his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the Lord will give to his people. It is the Lord’s inheritance, but the Levites are allowed to eat it since they themselves have no inheritance among the other tribes of Israel.

[18:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).

[18:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”

[18:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “judgment”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “the priest’s due.”

[18:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the firstfruits of your…” (so NIV).

[18:5]  ²⁸ tc Smr and some Greek texts add “before the Lord your God” to bring the language into line with a formula found elsewhere (Deut 10:8; 2 Chr 29:11). This reading is not likely to be original, however.

[18:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the name of the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[18:1]  ³⁰ tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.

[18:1]  ³¹ sn Of his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the Lord will give to his people. It is the Lord’s inheritance, but the Levites are allowed to eat it since they themselves have no inheritance among the other tribes of Israel.

[2:28]  ³² tn Heb “silver.”

[2:28]  ³³ tn Heb “and water for silver give to me so that I may drink.”