Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah.
Parallel translations
- WEB About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah.
- KJV And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
- NKJV And of Levi he said: “Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one, Whom You tested at Massah, And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,
- NASB Of Levi he said, “Let Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man, Whom You tested at Massah, With whom You contended at the waters of Meribah;
- NLT Moses said this about the tribe of Levi: “O Lord, you have given your Thummim and Urim—the sacred lots— to your faithful servants the Levites. You put them to the test at Massah and struggled with them at the waters of Meribah.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Levi is entrusted with the Thummim and Urim, the means of seeking God's will, having proven faithful at Massah and Meribah. The priestly tribe is marked by closeness to God.
Overview
The Urim and Thummim were sacred objects used by the priests to discern God's guidance (Ex. 28:30). Levi's testing at Massah and Meribah and its zeal for God (Ex. 32:26-29) qualified it for priestly service. This sacred mediating role points to Christ, our great High Priest, who perfectly reveals and accomplishes God's will (Heb. 4:14-16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Exod 17:7He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
- Exod 28:30And place the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece of judgment, so that they will also be over Aaron’s heart whenever he comes before the LORD. Aaron will continually carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD.
- Num 20:13These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed His holiness among them.
- Lev 8:8Then he put the breastpiece on him and placed the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece.
- Ps 106:16In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
- Ezra 2:63The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.
- Ezra 8:28Then I told them, “You are holy to the LORD, and these articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.
- Lev 21:7A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
- Deut 8:16He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.
- Num 27:21He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the LORD by the judgment of the Urim. At his command, he and all the Israelites with him—the entire congregation—will go out and come in.”
- Exod 28:36You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD.
- Ps 81:7You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the cloud of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
- Num 16:5Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses, He will bring near to Himself.
- Deut 8:2–3Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
- Rev 3:7To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.
- Neh 7:65The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.
- Ps 16:10For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Heb 7:26Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
- 2 Chr 23:6No one is to enter the house of the LORD except the priests and those Levites who serve; they may enter because they are consecrated, but all the people are to obey the requirement of the LORD.
- 1 Sam 28:6He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 33:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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