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 ¹  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 ²  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ³  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ⁴  have no inheritance. ⁵ 

[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]  ² 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]  ³ sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

[18:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:23]  ⁵ 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.