Provision for Priests and Levites

Deuteronomy 18

1 "The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, n shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They o shall eat the Lord's food offerings 1 as their 2 inheritance. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. 3 And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: p they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4 q The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes r to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.

6 "And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, s where he lives - and he may come when he desires 3 - t to the place that the Lord will choose, 7 and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, u like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, 8 then he may have equal v portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony. 4

  1. Cross References
    Numbers 18:20
    And the Lord said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.
  2. Cross References
    Numbers 18:8 - 9
    Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, "Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due.
    Joshua 13:14
    To the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance. The offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to him.
    1 Samuel 2:28
    Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.
    1 Corinthians 9:13
    Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?
  3. Cross References
    Leviticus 7:30 - 34
    His own hands shall bring the Lord 's food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the Lord.
  4. Cross References
    Numbers 18:12
    All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you.
    2 Chronicles 31:5
    As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.
  5. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 17:12
    The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
  6. Cross References
    Numbers 35:2 - 3
    Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities.
    Judges 17:7
    Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
    Judges 19:1
    In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
  7. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:5
    But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go.
  8. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 23:6
    And David organized them in divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
    2 Chronicles 31:2
    And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise.
  9. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 31:4
    And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the Lord.
    Nehemiah 12:44
    On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered.
    Nehemiah 12:47
    And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.
    Nehemiah 13:10
    I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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