“The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites.
Parallel Translations
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“The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites.
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And 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.
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And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks; and offer thou the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, unto the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Numbers 8:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 10:4-10 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’ ” Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law), then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
- Exodus 29:10 “You shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.
- Leviticus 1:4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
- Leviticus 8:14 He brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.
- Hebrews 9:22 According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
- Numbers 8:8 Then let them take a young bull and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering.
- Leviticus 4:20 Thus shall he do with the bull; as he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this; and the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.
- Leviticus 4:35 He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall burn them on the altar, on the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. The priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he has sinned, and he will be forgiven.
- Leviticus 5:7 “ ‘If he can’t afford a lamb, then he shall bring his trespass offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to Yahweh; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.
- Leviticus 5:9-10 He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. He shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the ordinance; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has sinned, and he shall be forgiven.
- Leviticus 8:18 He presented the ram of the burnt offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
- Leviticus 8:34 What has been done today, so Yahweh has commanded to do, to make atonement for you.
- Leviticus 9:7 Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar, and offer your sin offering, and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself, and for the people; and offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as Yahweh commanded.”
- Leviticus 14:19-20 “The priest shall offer the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering; then the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering on the altar. The priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
- Leviticus 14:22 and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.
- Leviticus 16:6 “Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house.
- Leviticus 16:11 “Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.
- Leviticus 16:16-19 He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so he shall do for the Tent of Meeting that dwells with them in the middle of their uncleanness. No one shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. “He shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull’s blood, and some of the goat’s blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
- Leviticus 16:21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is ready.
- Numbers 6:14 and he shall offer his offering to Yahweh: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering, one ram without defect for peace offerings,
- Numbers 6:16 The priest shall present them before Yahweh, and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 8:12 And the Levites shall lay their hands…
Num 8:12 And 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.
Ver. 12. The one for a sin offering.] The sin offering for actual sin; the burnt offering for original.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Upon the heads of the bullocks; to signify, that…
Upon the heads of the bullocks; to signify, that they were offered by them and for them. See Exo 29:15,19; Le 1:4; 3:2; 4:4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the Levites shall lay their hands on the…
And the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bullocks,.... Or "on the head" (s); on the head of everyone of them, as Aben Ezra, thereby, as it were, transferring their sins to them, for these were to make atonement for them, as the latter part of the verse shows; and this was a figure of the imputation of sin to Christ, and taught that doctrine, and led the faith of the offerers to the sin bearing and sin atoning Saviour:
and thou shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the Lord; that is, shall order to be offered; for not Moses, but Aaron, offered these offerings, as Aben Ezra observes, of which this is a proof, that Aaron is said to make the atonement for them, Num 8:21, for which purpose these sacrifices were offered, particularly the first; and the latter by way of thanksgiving for atonement made by the former: so it follows:
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to make an atonement for the Levites; who could not be admitted to service until their sins were expiated; as no man is worthy to be employed in the work of God, but such for whom reconciliation for their sins is made by the blood and sacrifice of Christ, by which they are purged from dead works to serve the living God.
(s) "super caput", Tigurine version. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Lay their hands - To signify that they were…
Lay their hands - To signify that they were offered by them and for them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 8:12-15. Lay their hands — To signify that…
Num 8:12-15. Lay their hands — To signify that they were offered by them and for them. Set the Levites before Aaron and his sons — Give the Levites to them, or to their service. Unto the Lord — For to him they were first properly offered, and by him given to the priests in order to his service. The Levites shall go in — Into the court, where they were to wait upon the priests at the altar of burnt-offering; and, at present, into the tabernacle, to take it down and set it up.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Thou, Moses, though the Hebrew here seems to refer…
Thou, Moses, though the Hebrew here seems to refer it to Aaron, "he shall." But the Septuagint and Arabic agree with the Vulgate, and the context shews that Moses is the person (Calmet) who had chiefly to officiate. Aaron also performed his part, ver. 11. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. The Levites shall lay their hands — This…
12. The Levites shall lay their hands — This imposition of hands differs from that in Num_8:10, inasmuch as it symbolically transfers guilt, (see Lev_1:4, note,) which is implied in an atonement. See Lev_4:20; Lev_16:10-34, notes. Even those whom God has accepted as a gift must be atoned for before they can begin to serve around the sanctuary. But there are in the Pentateuch no precepts regulating the personal conduct and life of the Levites as are there given for the priests, Leviticus 21.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. For the sin-offering and burnt-offering see on Num_4:11.
12. For the sin-offering and burnt-offering see on Num_4:11.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Shall lay their hands upon the beads of the…
Shall lay their hands upon the beads of the bullocks. In token that they constituted these victims the ritual representatives and embodiments, the one of their sin, to be consumed and done away as by fire, the other of their life and strength, to be wholly offered unto God and accepted as by fire.
HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT Vers. 12, and 19. An offering to God, needing for itself an atonement.
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The tribe of Levi was set apart for God"s service in the tabernacle in place of all the firstborn. Before they could enter on that service they needed a special call and consecration, including atoning sacrifices (verses 5-12). Thus we are reminded of the obvious truth that, without a sacrifice for us, we can never ourselves be acceptable sacrifices to God. Illustrate from the position of Rom_12:1 in the Epistle, coming after the exposition of the mercies of God, including the atonement of Christ. (Ro 3) But in verse 19 the services of the Levites (or the Levites themselves) are said to be an atonement. The Levites were regarded as a vicarious offering to God (verses 10, 11). In the wider sense of the word atonement, they are said to make (or to be) an atonement. ("The priests made an atonement by sacrifice; the Levites by attendance. M. Henry.) Yet even this vicarious offering needs to be atoned for (verse 12). Hence the lesson, that every human saint (separated to God, verse 14), service, or sacrifice needs an atonement. This is needed for
1. All God"s chosen servants, "a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. (Illustrate from 1Jn_1:7-10 1Jn_2:1, 1Jn_2:2, and from Joh_13:10)
2. All God"s selected ministers (pastors, missionaries, etc.). Illustrate from Tertullian"s request to his brethren: "Ye have sought, and ye have found; ye have knocked, and it is opened to you. Thus much I ask, that when you seek again, you remember me, Tertullian, a sinner;" or from W. Carey the missionary"s selected epitaph"A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, On thy kind arms I fall.
3. All the most sacred services of the most saintly men. Their prayers need to be prayed for; their tears to be washed from impurity; their gifts of gold to be refined from the dross of earthly motives. Though all Christians are priests unto God, their most solemn priestly acts need the blood of Christ to cleanse them from all sin. P.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Exo 29:33")
atonement
(See Scofield "Exo 29:33")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 The Levites must place their hands on the heads…
The Levites must place their hands on the heads of the bulls
This is a symbolic action that identifies the Levites with the animals being offered. In this way the person is offering himself through the animal to Yahweh. (See: Symbolic Action)
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lift them up as a wave offering to me
Aaron was to present the Levites to Yahweh as if he were lifting up an offering to Yahweh. AT: "dedicate them to me, as if you were lifting them up a wave offering to me" (See: Simile)
translationWords
Levi
burnt offering
son
sacrifice
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:12-22 The Levites had to offer appropriate sacrifices before…
8:12-22 The Levites had to offer appropriate sacrifices before they performed their duties in the Tabernacle (8:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.