Numbers 8

The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2"Speak to Aaron and tell him: when you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to shine on the space in front of the lampstand."

2Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick.

NoteThe lampstand, "candlestick" in the King James, was the seven-branched gold lamp that stood inside the tent-sanctuary. Its lamps were small oil bowls with wicks, burning olive oil; candles did not exist in this world. "Setting up" the lamps means trimming the wicks and putting them in place so the light fell forward, onto the space in front of the stand, rather than sideways or behind.

3Aaron did that. He set up the lamps so they shone toward the front of the lampstand, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

3And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the LORD commanded Moses.

4This is how the lampstand was made: it was hammered out of gold, all one piece from its base to its flower-shaped decorations. It was made exactly like the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.

4And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work: according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick.

Note"Hammered" (King James "beaten") means the whole lampstand was worked out of a single mass of gold with hammer and punch, not cast in a mold or assembled from separate pieces. The "flowers" were blossom-shaped cups worked into the branches; Exodus 25 describes them as almond blossoms.

5The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

5And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

6"Take the Levites out from among the people of Israel and make them clean.

6Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

NoteThe Levites were the tribe descended from Levi, one of Jacob's twelve sons. They were assigned to take down, carry, set up and guard the portable sanctuary and to assist the priests. The priests themselves, Aaron and his sons, were one family within that same tribe, and only they handled the altar and the sacrifices. "Clean" here is a ritual condition, not a statement about dirt or about a person's morals. To be clean meant to be in a state fit to come near holy things; certain events (contact with a corpse, particular illnesses, bodily discharges) made a person unclean and required a set procedure before they could approach the sanctuary again.

7This is what you must do to make them clean. Sprinkle the water used for purifying on them. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and in that way make themselves clean.

7And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.

NoteThe "water used for purifying" is water specially prepared for removing ritual uncleanness; Numbers 19 describes water mixed with the ashes of a burnt red cow, used to cleanse anyone who had been near a dead body. Shaving the entire body (head, beard and all) was a drastic, visible act of purification, required elsewhere only of someone recovering from a skin disease (Leviticus 14). Washing clothes was part of the same procedure, since garments carried uncleanness too.

8Then have them take a young bull, along with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with olive oil. You are to take a second young bull as an offering for sin.

8Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering.

NoteA grain offering was the standard accompaniment to an animal sacrifice: fine flour mixed with olive oil, part burned on the altar and the rest eaten by the priests. The "offering for sin" (King James "sin offering") translates a Hebrew word whose sense is closer to "purification offering." Its purpose was to cleanse the sanctuary and the worshiper of contamination, whether that came from deliberate wrongdoing or simply from unavoidable impurity.

9Bring the Levites to the front of the tent where the LORD meets with the people, and gather the whole community of Israel together.

9And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together:

Note"The tent where the LORD meets with the people" is what the King James calls the tabernacle of the congregation: the portable tent-sanctuary Israel carried through the desert, set up in the middle of the camp. The "community" gathered here is the whole assembly of Israel acting as a body, represented in practice by its heads of families.

10You are to present the Levites before the LORD, and the people of Israel are to lay their hands on them.

10And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites:

NoteLaying a hand on a person or animal was a formal gesture of designation. It marked out the one touched as belonging to the person doing the touching, and handed them over for the purpose at hand. Here the Israelites do it to the Levites, presenting them as their own contribution to the sanctuary's service.

11Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a gift from the people of Israel, so that they can do the work of the LORD.

11And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.

Note"Gift" renders a Hebrew term traditionally translated "wave offering": a portion presented to God with a ceremonial motion, lifting or swinging it forward, before it passed into the sanctuary's keeping. The Levites are formally presented in the way such an offering was presented, marking the transfer of the tribe from the people to God's service.

12The Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls. Then offer one bull to the LORD as an offering for sin and the other as a burnt offering, to make things right for the Levites.

12And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make an atonement for the Levites.

NoteA burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar, with no part of it eaten by anyone. "To make things right" (King James "to make an atonement") translates a Hebrew verb meaning roughly to wipe clean or cover over. It describes the removal of the contamination that would otherwise make close contact with holy things dangerous.

13You are to have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and present them as a gift to the LORD.

13And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the LORD.

14This is how you are to set the Levites apart from the rest of the people of Israel, and the Levites will belong to me.

14Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine.

15After you have made them clean and presented them as a gift, the Levites may go in and do the work of the tent where the LORD meets with the people.

15And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering.

16They are given to me completely, out of all the people of Israel. I have taken them for myself in place of every male who is the first to be born, the firstborn of all the people of Israel.

16For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.

Note"Every male who is the first to be born" renders a phrase meaning literally the one who opens the womb, the mother's first offspring, if male. Israelite law treated the firstborn of both people and livestock as God's property; firstborn sons had to be bought back with a payment, and firstborn animals were sacrificed.

17Every firstborn in Israel is mine, both people and animals. On the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set them apart for myself.

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.

NoteThe reference is to the last of the plagues on Egypt (Exodus 12), in which the firstborn of Egypt died and Israel's firstborn were spared. From then on, by this account, Israel's firstborn were counted as belonging to God.

18And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.

18And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

19From among the people of Israel I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons. They are to do the work of the tent on behalf of the people and to make things right for them, so that no deadly sickness will strike the people when they come near the holy place."

19And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.

Note"Deadly sickness" is the King James "plague": a sudden outbreak or blow understood as the consequence of unqualified people coming too close to the sanctuary. The Levites stand between the people and that danger by doing the sanctuary work on their behalf. "The holy place" is the sanctuary, the tent and its enclosure, which ordinary Israelites were not permitted to enter.

20So Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel did everything with the Levites that the LORD had commanded Moses. That is what the people of Israel did with them.

20And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.

21The Levites made themselves clean and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as a gift before the LORD, and Aaron made things right for them so they would be clean.

21And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the LORD; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them.

22After that, the Levites went in to do their work at the tent where the LORD meets with the people, under Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just what the LORD had commanded Moses.

22And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.

23The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

23And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

24"This is the rule for the Levites. Men twenty-five years old and older are to come and take up the work at the tent where the LORD meets with the people.

24This 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:

NoteNumbers 4 sets the starting age for Levite service at thirty, not twenty-five, and the difference has been explained in various ways since antiquity: a five-year apprenticeship before full duty, different kinds of work (the heavy transport of chapter 4 versus general service here), or simply differing traditions preserved side by side. The text itself does not reconcile them.

25But at age fifty they must stop doing that work, and they will not serve in it anymore.

25And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:

26They may help their fellow Levites carry out their duties at the tent, keeping watch over it, but they themselves are not to do the work. This is how you are to assign the Levites their duties."

26But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.

Note"Keeping watch over it" (King James "to keep the charge") means guard duty: standing sentry over the tent and its equipment and making sure nothing and no one improper came near. It was a supervisory role, distinguished here from the physical labor of dismantling, carrying and setting up the sanctuary.