“This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting.
Parallel translations
- WEB “This is that which belongs to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting;
- KJV This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:
- BSB “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- NKJV “This is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting;
- NLT “This is the rule the Levites must follow: They must begin serving in the Tabernacle at the age of twenty-five,
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
Levites began their service at age twenty-five. God set an appointed time for entering sacred work.
Overview
God establishes a starting age for Levite ministry, allowing for training before fuller duties. The number here is sometimes compared with thirty in chapter four, often explained as an apprenticeship period beginning at twenty-five and full service at thirty. The detail shows God's orderly provision for ongoing, generational ministry.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Num 4:3from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all who enter into the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.
- 1 Chr 23:3The Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.
- Num 4:23you shall count them from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old; all who enter in to wait on the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.
- 1 Cor 9:7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?
- 1 Chr 23:24–27These were the sons of Levi after their fathers’ houses, even the heads of the fathers’ houses of those who were counted individually, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of Yahweh’s house, from twenty years old and upward.
- 2 Cor 10:4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,
- 2 Tim 2:3–5You therefore must endure hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
- 1 Chr 28:12–13and the plans of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of Yahweh’s house, for all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of God’s house, and for the treasuries of the dedicated things;
- 1 Tim 1:18This instruction I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may wage the good warfare;
- 1 Tim 6:12Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
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 8:24 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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