Numbers 18:20-24

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 ¹  among them – I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. 18:21 See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform – the service of the tent of meeting. 18:22 No longer may the Israelites approach the tent of meeting, or else they will bear their sin ²  and die. 18:23 But the Levites must perform the service ³  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ⁴  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ⁵  have no inheritance. ⁶  18:24 But I have given ⁷  to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered ⁸  to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance.”

Deuteronomy 18:1-2

Provision for Priests and Levites

18:1 The Levitical priests ⁹  – 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. ¹⁰  18:2 They ¹¹  will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; ¹²  the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

[18:20]  ¹ tn The phrase “of property” is supplied as a clarification.

[18:22]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive construct of the verb “to bear” with the lamed (ל) preposition to express the result of such an action. “To bear their sin” would mean that they would have to suffer the consequences of their sin.

[18:23]  ³ 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.”

[18:23]  ⁴ sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

[18:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:23]  ⁶ 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.

[18:24]  ⁷ 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.”

[18:24]  ⁸ 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.

[18:1]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).

[18:2]  ¹² tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”