VERSE STUDY • KJV

Numbers 3:1-13

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 they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father. ⁵ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ⁶ Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. ⁷ And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁸ And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹ And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they [are] wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. ¹⁰ And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. ¹¹ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ¹² 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; ¹³ Because all the firstborn [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I [am] the LORD.

Read it in 5 translations

KJV King James Version

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 they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father. ⁵ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ⁶ Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. ⁷ And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁸ And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹ And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they [are] wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. ¹⁰ And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. ¹¹ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ¹² 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; ¹³ Because all the firstborn [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I [am] the LORD.

BSB Berean Standard Bible

¹ This is the account of Aaron and Moses at the time the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ² These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, then Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³ These were Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests. ⁴ Nadab and Abihu, however, died in the presence of the LORD when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai. And since they had no sons, only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron. ⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, ⁶ “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him. ⁷ They are to perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, attending to the service of the tabernacle. ⁸ They shall take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and fulfill obligations for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle. ⁹ Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been given exclusively to him from among the Israelites. ¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.” ¹¹ Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb. The Levites belong to Me, ¹³ for all the firstborn are Mine. On the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They are Mine; I am the LORD.”

WEB World English Bible

¹ Now this is the history of the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that Yahweh spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai. ² 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 who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office. ⁴ Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh, when they offered strange fire before Yahweh, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the presence of Aaron their father. ⁵ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷ They shall keep his requirements, and the requirements of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁸ They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹ You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel. ¹⁰ You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.” ¹¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine: ¹³ for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am Yahweh.”

ASV American Standard Version

¹ Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that Jehovah spake with Moses in mount Sinai. ² And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the first-born, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³ These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests that were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office. ⁴ And Nadab and Abihu died before Jehovah, when they offered strange fire before Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children; and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the presence of Aaron their father. ⁵ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, ⁶ Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. ⁷ And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁸ And they shall keep all the furniture of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹ And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him on the behalf of the children of Israel. ¹⁰ And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. ¹¹ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, ¹² And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine: ¹³ for all the first-born are mine; on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast; mine they shall be: I am Jehovah.

YLT Young’s Literal Translation

¹ And these are births of Aaron and Moses, in the day of Jehovah’s speaking with Moses in mount Sinai. ² And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: the first-born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar; ³ these are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whose hand he hath consecrated for acting as priest. ⁴ And Nadab dieth—Abihu also—before Jehovah, in their bringing near strange fire before Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai, and sons they had not; and Eleazar—Ithamar also—acteth as priest in the presence of Aaron their father. ⁵ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ⁶ ‘Bring near the tribe of Levi, and thou hast caused it to stand before Aaron the priest, and they have served him, ⁷ and kept his charge, and the charge of all the company before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle; ⁸ and they have kept all the vessels of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle; ⁹ and thou hast given the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are surely given to him out of the sons of Israel. ¹⁰ ‘And Aaron and his sons thou dost appoint, and they have kept their priesthood, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.’ ¹¹ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ¹² ‘And I, lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every first-born opening a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites have been Mine; ¹³ for Mine is every first-born, in the day of My smiting every first-born in the land of Egypt I have sanctified to Myself every first-born in Israel, from man unto beast; Mine they are; I am Jehovah.’

Surrounding context — Numbers 3

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 they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father.

5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.

7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.

8 And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

9 And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they [are] wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.

10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12 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;

13 Because all the firstborn [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I [am] the LORD.

14 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

15 Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.

16 And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded.

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HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION

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