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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
Numbers 3:12
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"Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Yisra'el instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Yisra'el; and the Levites shall be mine:
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;
"I myself receive the Levites from the midst of the Israelites in the place of all the firstborn of the offspring of the womb from the Israelites. The Levites will be mine
"I am choosing the Levites from all the Israelites to take the place of all the firstborn children of Israel. The Levites will be mine,
"Look, I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,
"Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of and as a substitute for every firstborn, that is, the first that opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites shall be Mine,
"Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the firstborn of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.
Beholde, I haue euen taken the Leuites fro among the childre of Israel: for al the first borne that openeth the matrice among the children of Israel, and the Leuites shalbe mine,
"Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first offspring of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.
"I have taken the L'vi'im from among the people of Isra'el in lieu of every firstborn male that is first from the womb among the people of Isra'el; the L'vi'im are to be mine.
And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn that breaketh open the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine;
"I destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt. At that time I chose all the firstborn from every family in Israel to be mine in a special way. That included all the firstborn men and animals. But now I am choosing the Levites to take their place. Now they will be my special servants. I, the Lord , give this command!"
"Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine,
Behold I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the first-born that open the womb among the children of Israel; therefore the Levites shall be mine;
"The Levites are now to be mine. When I killed all the first-born of the Egyptians, I consecrated as my own the oldest son of each Israelite family and the first-born of every animal. Now, instead of having the first-born sons of Israel as my own, I have the Levites; they will belong to me. I am the Lord ."
“See, I have taken the Levites from the Israelites in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb. The Levites belong to me,
And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel in the place of every first-born opening a womb from the sons of Israel; and the Levites have become Mine.
Beholde, I haue take the Leuites fro amonge the childre of Israel, for all the first borne that open the Matrix amonge the children of Israel, so that the Leuites shalbe myne.
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:
See, I have taken the Levites out of the children of Israel to be mine in place of the first sons of the children of Israel;
Beholde, I haue taken the Leuites from among the chyldren of Israel for all the first borne that openeth the matrice among the chyldren of Israel, and the Leuites shalbe mine.
'And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be Mine;
And I, behold, I haue taken the Leuites from among the children of Israel, in stead of all the first borne that openeth the matrice among the children of Israel: therefore the Leuites shall be mine,
Behold, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel, instead of every male that opens the womb from among the children of Israel: they shall be their ransom, and the Levites shall be mine.
And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine:
Y haue take the Leuytis of the sones of Israel for ech firste gendrid thing that openeth the womb in the sones of Israel; and the Leuytis schulen be myne,
`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;
And I, look, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of all the first-born that opens the womb among the sons of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine:
And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel, instead of all the first-born that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;
"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:
"Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine,
"Look, I have chosen the Levites from among the Israelites to serve as substitutes for all the firstborn sons of the people of Israel. The Levites belong to me,
"See, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every first-born among the people of Israel. The Levites will be Mine.
I hereby accept the Levites from among the Israelites as substitutes for all the firstborn that open the womb among the Israelites. The Levites shall be mine,
I, therefore, lo! I have taken the Levites out of the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of every firstborn that a mother beareth, from among the sons of Israel, - so shall the Levites be mine;
I have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, for every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
"Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every first-born that opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine,
"Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
When God miraculously destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians - Exodus 12:29, he spared those of the Israelites; and, in commemoration of that event, he was pleased to appoint that all the first-born males "should be set apart unto himself" - Exodus 13:12-16. God is here pleased to relinquish this claim, and to appoint the whole tribe of Levi to attend his immediate service in their stead. Numbers 3:41, Numbers 3:45, Numbers 8:16, Numbers 8:18, Numbers 18:6
Reciprocal: Numbers 3:40 - General Numbers 8:15 - and offer Numbers 8:21 - offered
Cross-References
The LORD God also said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper."
The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" "The serpent deceived me," she replied, "and I ate."
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.
if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
A man's own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel,.... Separated them from others, and set them apart for the service of the sanctuary; this was his own act and deed, and which he did of his own will and pleasure, who is a sovereign Being, and might and would do whatsoever he pleased, nor should any object unto him, or contradict him: and this he did,
instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel; he made an exchange of those for the Levites; upon the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, and saving the firstborn of Israel, he claimed the latter as his own in a special sense, and now he gave up his right to them, and instead thereof took the Levites; nor could the people of Israel reasonably object to this, nor be uneasy at it, but rather be pleased with it; since hereby they were not only freed from the charge of redeeming their firstborn, but since they were the Lord's, he might have appointed them to be servants to the priests; and every Israelite would choose rather, no doubt, to part with a tribe for this service than to have their firstborn sons employed in it; and there were none so fit as the tribe of Levi, not only because it was a small tribe, but because the priests were of this tribe, to whom they were to minister; and therefore as there was a connection between them, the Levites would readily serve them: it is a notion that has obtained both among Jews and Christians, that the firstborn before this time were priests in the family, but now the Levites were taken in their room; and Jarchi particularly observes, that when the firstborn sinned in the business of the calf, they were rejected, and the Levites, who did not commit idolatry, were chosen in their room; but it does not appear, before the fixing the priesthood in Aaron's family, that the firstborn in a family were priests, and officiated as such, but rather the father and head of the family for the whole, or everyone for himself, as in Adam's family, he and his two sons; and moreover, it was a recent thing, and only among the Hebrews, that the firstborn were in a peculiar manner the Lord's, not as priests, only to be redeemed, and now the Levites were redeemed in their room; it was not to be priests, but the servants of the priests r:
therefore the Levites shall be mine; whom he gave to the priests to assist them in their work, which was for him and his glory.
r Vid. Outram. de Sacrificiis, l. 1. c. 4. sect. 1, 2, 3.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Numbers 3:12. I have taken the Levites - instead of all the first-born — The Levites are taken for the service of the sanctuary in place of the first-born. The first-born were dedicated to God in commemoration of his slaying the first-born of the Egyptians, and preserving those of the Israelites. Even the cattle of the Levites were taken in place of the first-born of the cattle of the rest of the tribes. See Numbers 3:45.
Several reasons have been assigned why God should give this honour to the tribe of Levi in preference to all the others, but they do not seem to me to be conclusive. Their zeal in destroying those who had corrupted the worship of God in the business of the golden calf, Exodus 32:28, has been thought a sufficient reason. A better reason is, that this was the smallest tribe, and they were quite enough for the service. To have had a more numerous tribe at this time would have been very inconvenient.
Aaron, says Mr. Ainsworth, being in his priesthood a type of Christ, all these rites are fulfilled in him. For unto Christ God gave children, Hebrews 2:13. And they are a congregation of first-born, whose names are written in heaven, Hebrews 12:23, being of God's own will begotten by the word of truth, that they should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, James 1:18, to whom he also gives the first-fruits of his Spirit, Romans 8:23. These wait on and follow the Lamb, being first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb, Revelation 14:4; and Christ hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, that we may serve him day and night in his temple, Revelation 1:6; Revelation 7:15.
