Leviticus 27:30-33

Redemption of the Tithe

27:30 “‘Any tithe ¹  of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 27:31 If a man redeems ²  part of his tithe, however, he must add one fifth to it. ³  27:32 All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord. ⁴  27:33 The owner ⁵  must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it, ⁶  both the original animal ⁷  and its substitute will be holy. ⁸  It must not be redeemed.’”

Numbers 18:26-32

18:26 “You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up ⁹  from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe. 18:27 And your raised offering will be credited ¹⁰  to you as though it were grain from the threshing floor or as new wine ¹¹  from the winepress. 18:28 Thus you are to offer up a raised offering to the Lord of all your tithes which you receive from the Israelites; and you must give the Lord’s raised offering from it to Aaron the priest. 18:29 From all your gifts you must offer up every raised offering due ¹²  the Lord, from all the best of it, and the holiest part of it.’ ¹³ 

18:30 “Therefore you will say to them, ¹⁴  ‘When you offer up ¹⁵  the best of it, then it will be credited to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the winepress. 18:31 And you may ¹⁶  eat it in any place, you and your household, because it is your wages for your service in the tent of meeting. 18:32 And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.’” ¹⁷ 

Numbers 18:2

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ¹⁸  with you and minister to you while ¹⁹  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Numbers 31:4-6

31:4 You must send to the battle a thousand men from every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel.” ²⁰  31:5 So a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for battle in all, were provided out of the thousands of Israel.

Campaign Against the Midianites

31:6 So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge ²¹  of the holy articles ²²  and the signal trumpets.

Nehemiah 13:10

13:10 I also discovered that the grain offerings for the Levites had not been provided, and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields.

[27:30]  ¹ tn On the “tithe” system in Israel, see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:1035-55 and esp. pp. 1041-42 on Lev 27:30-33.

[27:31]  ² tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] a man redeems [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

[27:31]  ³ tn Heb “its one fifth on it.”

[27:32]  ⁴ sn The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 485, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 200).

[27:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “And if exchanging [infinitive absolute] he exchanges it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

[27:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”

[18:26]  ⁹ tn The verb in this clause is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it has the same force as an imperfect of instruction: “when…then you are to offer up.”

[18:27]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon; to count; to think”); it is the same verb used for “crediting” Abram with righteousness. Here the tithe of the priests will be counted as if it were a regular tithe.

[18:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fullness,” meaning the fullness of the harvest, i.e., a full harvest.

[18:29]  ¹² tn The construction is “every raised offering of the Lord”; the genitive here is probably to be taken as a genitive of worth – the offering that is due the Lord.

[18:29]  ¹³ tn Or “its hallowed thing.”

[18:30]  ¹⁴ tn The wording of this verse is confusing; it may be that it is addressed to the priests, telling them how to deal with the offerings of the Levites.

[18:30]  ¹⁵ tn The clause begins with the infinitive construct with its preposition and suffixed subject serving to indicate the temporal clause.

[18:31]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of permission.

[18:32]  ¹⁷ tn The final clause could also be rendered “in order that you do not die.” The larger section can also be interpreted differently; rather than take it as a warning, it could be taken as an assurance that when they do all of this they will not be profaning it and so will not die (R. K. Harrison, Numbers [WEC], 253).

[18:2]  ¹⁸ sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

[18:2]  ¹⁹ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[31:4]  ²⁰ sn Some commentators argue that given the size of the nation (which they reject) the small number for the army is a sign of the unrealistic character of the story. The number is a round number, but it is also a holy war, and God would give them the victory. They are beginning to learn here, and at Jericho, and later against these Midianites under Gideon, that God does not want or need a large army in order to obtain victory.

[31:6]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the idiom that these “were in his hand,” meaning that he had the responsibility over them.

[31:6]  ²² sn It is not clear what articles from the sanctuary were included. Tg. Ps.-J. adds (interpretively) “the Urim and Thummim.”