0 SAB Numbers 18

And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?. 22:28

Trivia: What were the names of the Israelite man and the Midianite woman that were killed by Phinehas in Numbers 25?

Numbers

CHAPTER 18

Instructions for priests
18:1-13

1 And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

God said to Aaron,
You, your sons, and your family will bear the blame for the sins of the sanctuary.

2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.

3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

You may bring anyone from the tribe of Levi to assist you in the tabernacle, but they may not get near the sanctuary vessels or they'll die. (God will kill them.)

4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.

5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.

Don't let any strangers come close to you.

6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

I have given the Levites to you to help in the tabernacle. [1]

7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for everything of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

Any stranger that comes near the altar will be killed. [2]

8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.

God said to Aaron,
You and your sons are in charge of my heave offerings.

This is an ordinance forever.

9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons.

You will have the most holy things.

Every meat offering, sin offering, and trespass offering will be most holy for you and your sons.

10 In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.

You will eat it in the most holy place.

Every male will eat it, and it shall be holy to you.

11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.

All this is yours: the heave offering and wave offering I give to you and your sons and daughters, by a statute forever.

Everyone who is clean in your family shall eat it.

12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.

I also give you all the best wine, wheat, and firstfruits that the people offer to me.

13 And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it.

Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat it.

How to redeem your firstborn sons
18:14-20

14 Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.

Every devoted thing in Israel is yours.

15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.

The first thing that opens the womb, whether man or beast, is yours.

But the firstborn humans and unclean animals you shall redeem.

16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

Firstborn boys must be redeemed when they are a month old by paying a priest five shekels. [3]

17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

But firstling cows, sheep, and goats may not be redeemed.

They are holy. You must sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat for a sweet savor to me. [4]

18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.

Their flesh shall be yours, just as the wave breast and the right shoulder.

19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.

I have given you all the heave offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to me.

This is a statute forever, a covenant of salt in front of me to you and your seed.

20 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.

God said to Aaron,

You will have no inheritance of land.

I am your inheritance.

Tithes
18:21-32, Cf. Lev 27:30-33, Dt 14:22-29

21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

I have given the children of Levi a tenth of everything in Israel for an inheritance.

22Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.

The Israelites must not come to the tabernacle, or they'll die.

23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

The Levites get no inheritance. It is a statute forever.

24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

Except for the tithes from the Israelites. That is the Levites' inheritance.

25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.

27 And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD's heave offering to Aaron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.

God said to Moses,

Say to the Levites,

Whenever the Israelites give you a tithe, offer me a heave offering and a tenth of the tithe.

30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Eat the heave offering wherever you like, you and your household.

It is your reward for your service in the tabernacle.

32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.

But don't pollute the holy things, or you'll die.
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