Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine.
Parallel translations
- WEB Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
- BSB In this way you shall separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, and the Levites will belong to Me.
- NKJV Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine.
- NASB “So you shall single out the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine.
- NLT In this way, you will set the Levites apart from the rest of the people of Israel, and the Levites will belong to me.
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
God separates the Levites from Israel, declaring, "the Levites shall be mine." They become God's special possession for service.
Overview
The Levites are set apart from the rest of Israel as belonging uniquely to the LORD, in place of the firstborn he claimed at the Exodus (Numbers 3:13). To be God's own is the heart of consecration. This anticipates how all believers are redeemed to be God's treasured possession in Christ (1 Peter 2:9; Titus 2:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Num 3:45Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.
- Mal 3:17And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
- Num 18:6And 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.
- Num 16:9–10Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?
- Heb 7:26For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Num 6:2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:
- Gal 1:15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
- Num 3:12And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;
- Num 8:17For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself.
- Deut 10:8At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.
- Rom 1:1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
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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 8:14 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.