Numbers · 32 verses
Numbers 18
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Aaron receives no inheritance in the land, yet the offerings, firstfruits, devoted things, redemption payments, and sacrificial meat all come his way; the chapter calls this arrangement a permanent covenant of salt.
The work is carefully dividedvv. 1–7
The LORD assigns the burden of sanctuary and priesthood to Aaron and his sons, while the Levites join them for the work of the Tent. The boundary is severe: Levites must not approach the furnishings or altar, outsiders may not come near, and an unauthorized approach ends in death. The Levites are described as a gift to Aaron, which is a striking sort of gift—one accompanied by an elaborate perimeter.
Aaron’s portion is not a fieldvv. 8–20
Aaron is put in charge of the sacred offerings, and the list of his portion grows impressively: most holy offerings, wave offerings, firstfruits, every devoted thing, firstborn redemption payments, and the meat of certain animals. The household may eat much of it under the stated conditions. Yet land is expressly withheld from Aaron; instead, the LORD is declared to be his portion and inheritance.
The tithe has a tithevv. 21–32
The Levites receive Israel’s tithes as their inheritance in payment for the work of the Tent, since they receive no inheritance among the Israelites. But their inheritance arrives with an obligation attached: a tithe of the tithe must be presented to the LORD, and from that offering Aaron receives the best and holiest part. The remainder may be eaten by the Levites and their households anywhere, provided the best part has first been set aside and the sacred offerings are not defiled.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Num 18:1So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house must bear the iniquity involving the sanctuary. And you and your sons alone must bear the iniquity involving your priesthood.
Num 18:2But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony.
Num 18:3And they shall attend to your duties and to all the duties of the Tent; but they must not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die.
Num 18:4They are to join you and attend to the duties of the Tent of Meeting, doing all the work at the Tent; but no outsider may come near you.
Num 18:5And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and of the altar, so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.
Num 18:6Behold, I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to perform the service for the Tent of Meeting.
Num 18:7But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”
Num 18:8Then the LORD said to Aaron, “Behold, I have put you in charge of My offerings. As for all the sacred offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.
Num 18:9A portion of the most holy offerings reserved from the fire will be yours. From all the offerings they render to Me as most holy offerings, whether grain offerings or sin offerings or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons.
Num 18:10You are to eat it as a most holy offering, and every male may eat it. You shall regard it as holy.
Num 18:11And this is yours as well: the offering of their gifts, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given this to you and your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat it.
Num 18:12I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.
Num 18:13The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD will belong to you. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat them.
Num 18:15The firstborn of every womb, whether man or beast, that is offered to the LORD belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.
Num 18:16You are to pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your valuation: five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.
Num 18:17But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to splatter their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
Num 18:18And their meat belongs to you, just as the breast and right thigh of the wave offering belong to you.
Num 18:19All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring.”
Num 18:20Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.
Num 18:21Behold, I have given to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the service of the Tent of Meeting.
Num 18:22No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.
Num 18:23The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.
Num 18:24For I have given to the Levites as their inheritance the tithe that the Israelites present to the LORD as a contribution. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”
Num 18:26“Speak to the Levites and tell them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the LORD—a tithe of the tithe.
Num 18:27Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.
Num 18:28So you are to present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites, and from these you are to give the LORD’s offering to Aaron the priest.
Num 18:29You must present the offering due the LORD from all the best of every gift, the holiest part of it.’
Num 18:30Therefore say to the Levites, ‘When you have presented the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the produce of the threshing floor or winepress.
Num 18:31And you and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere; it is the compensation for your work at the Tent of Meeting.
Num 18:32Once you have presented the best part of it, you will not incur guilt because of it. But you must not defile the sacred offerings of the Israelites, or else you will die.’”
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 251 passages were voted onto 30 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 20Ezekiel 44:28In regard to their inheritance, I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.
- 20Deuteronomy 10:9That is why Levi has no portion or inheritance among his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God promised him.
- 20Joshua 13:33To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as He had promised them.
- 20Deuteronomy 18:1–2The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the LORD; that is their inheritance.
- 20Lamentations 3:24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
- 20Joshua 18:7The Levites, however, have no portion among you, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the LORD. And Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received the inheritance that Moses the servant of the LORD gave them beyond the Jordan to the east.”
- 20Deuteronomy 14:27And do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
- 20Joshua 14:3For Moses had given the inheritance east of the Jordan to the other two and a half tribes. But he granted no inheritance among them to the Levites.
- 20Psalms 142:5I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
- 20Revelation 21:3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.
- 20Psalms 16:5The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.
- 26Nehemiah 10:38A priest of Aaron’s line is to accompany the Levites when they collect the tenth, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of these tithes to the storerooms of the treasury in the house of our God.
- 20Numbers 18:23–24The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.
- 1Exodus 28:38And it will be worn on Aaron’s forehead, so that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate with regard to all their holy gifts. It shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be acceptable before the LORD.
- 5Exodus 27:21In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.’’
- 9Leviticus 7:7The guilt offering is like the sin offering; the same law applies to both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it.
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