Numbers 4:18

4:18 “Do not allow the tribe of the families of the Kohathites to be cut off ¹  from among the Levites;

Numbers 8:6

8:6 “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and purify ²  them.

Numbers 16:21

16:21 “Separate yourselves ³  from among this community, ⁴  that I may consume them in an instant.”

Numbers 4:2

4:2 “Take a census ⁵  of the Kohathites from among the Levites, by their families and by their clans,

Numbers 8:14

8:14 And so ⁶  you are to separate the Levites from among the Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

Numbers 16:45

16:45 “Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. ⁷ 

Numbers 3:12

3:12 “Look, ⁸  I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of ⁹  every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

Numbers 16:33

16:33 They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community.

Numbers 18:6

18:6 I myself have chosen ¹⁰  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ¹¹  of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 25:7

25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, ¹²  he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand,

Numbers 27:4

27:4 Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession ¹³  among the relatives ¹⁴  of our father.”

Numbers 8:16

8:16 For they are entirely given ¹⁵  to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of ¹⁶  all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites.

Numbers 8:19

8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.” ¹⁷ 

Numbers 19:20

19:20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

[4:18]  ¹ sn The verb is simply the Qal, “do not cut off.” The context calls for a permissive nuance – “do not let them be cut off.” It was a difficult task to be handling the holy things correctly; Moses and Aaron were to see to it that they did it right and did not handle the objects, that is, Moses and Aaron were to safeguard their lives by making certain that proper procedures were followed.

[8:6]  ² tn The verb טָהַר (tahar) means that Moses was “to purify” or “to make ceremonially clean” the Levites so that they could enter the sanctuary and do the work prescribed for them. Whatever is “unclean” is not permitted in the sanctuary at all.

[16:21]  ³ tn The verb is הִבָּדְלוּ (hibbadÿlu), the Niphal imperative of בָּדַל (badal). This is the same word that was just used when Moses reminded the Levites that they had been separated from the community to serve the Lord.

[16:21]  ⁴ sn The group of people siding with Korah is meant, and not the entire community of the people of Israel. They are an assembly of rebels, their “community” consisting in their common plot.

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “lift up the head.” The form נָשֹׂא (naso’) is the Qal infinitive absolute functioning here as a pure verb form. This serves to emphasize the basic verbal root idea (see GKC 346 §113.bb).

[8:14]  ⁵ tn The vav (ו) consecutive on the perfect tense not only carries the nuance of instruction forward to this clause, but also marks this clause out as a summary of what has taken place, i.e., by doing all this ritual Moses will have separated the Levites from the people for God’s own possession.

[16:45]  ⁶ tn Heb “they fell on their faces.”

[3:12]  ⁷ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here carries its deictic force, calling attention to the fact that is being declared. It is underscoring the fact that the Lord himself chose Levi.

[3:12]  ⁸ tn Literally “in the place of.”

[18:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ⁹ tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.

[25:7]  ⁹ tn The first clause is subordinated to the second because both begin with the preterite verbal form, and there is clearly a logical and/or chronological sequence involved.

[27:4]  ¹⁰ tn That is, the possession of land, or property, among the other families of their tribe.

[27:4]  ¹¹ tn The word is “brothers,” but this can be interpreted more loosely to relatives. So also in v. 7.

[8:16]  ¹¹ tn As before, the emphasis is obtained by repeating the passive participle: “given, given to me.”

[8:16]  ¹² tn Or “as substitutes” for all the firstborn of the Israelites.

[8:19]  ¹² sn The firstborn were those that were essentially redeemed from death in Egypt when the blood was put on the doors. So in the very real sense they belonged to God (Exod 13:2,12). The firstborn was one who stood in special relationship to the father, being the successive offspring. Here, the Levites would stand in for the firstborn in that special role and special relationship. God also made it clear that the nation of Israel was his firstborn son (Exod 4:22-23), and so they stood in that relationship before all the nations. The tribe of Reuben was to have been the firstborn tribe, but in view of the presumptuous attempt to take over the leadership through pagan methods (Gen 35:22; 49:3-4), was passed over. The tribes of Levi and Simeon were also put down for their ancestors’ activities, but sanctuary service was still given to Levi.