You shall present the Levites before Yahweh. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites,
Parallel translations
- KJV And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites:
- BSB You are to present the Levites before the LORD and have the Israelites lay their hands upon them.
- NKJV So you shall bring the Levites before the Lord, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites;
- NASB and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.
- NLT When you present the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel must lay their hands on them.
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
Israel lays hands on the Levites before the LORD. This identifies the Levites as the nation's offering and substitutes.
Overview
The laying on of hands signified the people designating the Levites as their representatives, given to God in place of the firstborn. It transferred the nation's claim and identified the Levites with those they served. This act anticipates the deeper substitution accomplished by Christ on his people's behalf (Isaiah 53:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Acts 6:6whom they set before the apostles. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
- Lev 1:4He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
- Num 3:45“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am Yahweh.
- Acts 13:2–3As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
- 1 Tim 5:22Lay hands hastily on no one, neither be a participant in other men’s sins. Keep yourself pure.
- 1 Tim 4:14Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 8:10 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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