Numbers 10:8

10:8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, must blow the trumpets; and they will be to you for an eternal ordinance throughout your generations.

Numbers 18:19

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 ¹  forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”

Numbers 15:15

15:15 One statute must apply ²  to you who belong to the congregation and to the resident foreigner who is living among you, as a permanent ³  statute for your future generations. You and the resident foreigner will be alike ⁴  before the Lord.

Numbers 19:10

19:10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.

Numbers 19:21

19:21 “‘So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles ⁵  the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ⁶ 

Numbers 25:13

25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ⁷  and has made atonement ⁸  for the Israelites.’”

Numbers 18:8

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 ⁹  and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance.

Numbers 18:11

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.

Numbers 18:23

18:23 But the Levites must perform the service ¹⁰  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ¹¹  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ¹²  have no inheritance. ¹³ 

[18:19]  ¹ 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.

[15:15]  ¹ tn The word “apply” is supplied in the translation.

[15:15]  ² tn Or “a statute forever.”

[15:15]  ³ tn Heb “as you, as [so] the alien.”

[19:21]  ¹ tn The form has the conjunction with it: וּמַזֵּה (umazzeh). The conjunction subordinates the following as the special law. It could literally be translated “and this shall be…that the one who sprinkles.”

[19:21]  ² sn This gives the indication of the weight of the matter, for “until the evening” is the shortest period of ritual uncleanness in the Law. The problem of contamination had to be taken seriously, but this was a relatively simple matter to deal with – if one were willing to obey the Law.

[25:13]  ¹ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

[25:13]  ² sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

[18:8]  ¹ 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]).

[18:23]  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.”

[18:23]  ² sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

[18:23]  ³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:23]  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.