Numbers 3:12

“Note that from all the Israelis, I have chosen the men of the tribe of Levi to take the places of all the firstborn sons of the Israeli people. The male descendants of Levi belong to me,

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And 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;

In Context

11Yahweh also told Moses/me,

13because truly all the firstborn males belong to me. That is because on the day that I killed all the firstborn sons of the people of Egypt, I spared all the firstborn sons of the Israelis and set them apart for myself. I also set apart the firstborn males of your domestic animals. They belong to me, Yahweh.”

Read all of Numbers 3

Cross References

Numbers 3:41Also, set apart for me the descendants of Levi to be substitutes for the firstborn males of the other Israelis. And set apart for me the livestock of the descendants of Levi to be substitutes for the firstborn livestock of the other Israeli people.”

Numbers 8:16They will belong to me. They will work for me as substitutes for the firstborn males of all the Israelis, who also belong to me.

Numbers 18:6I myself have chosen the descendants of Levi from the other Israelis in order that they may be your special helpers. They are like a gift that I have given you to work at the Sacred Tent.

Matthew Henry on Numbers 3:2-14

The Separation of the Levites. ( b. c. 1490.) 1 These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in Mount Sinai. 2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office. 4 And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord , when they offered strange fire before the Lord , in the wilderness of Sinai, and… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Numbers 3:12