You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel.
Parallel Translations
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You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel.
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And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together:
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And thou shalt present the Levites before the tent of meeting; and thou shalt assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Numbers 8:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 40:12 “You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water.
- Leviticus 8:3 and assemble all the congregation at the door of the Tent of Meeting.”
- Exodus 29:4-37 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water. You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and clothe him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. You shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him. You shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them. You shall clothe them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind headbands on them. They shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. You shall consecrate Aaron and his sons. “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. You shall kill the bull before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting. You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the meat of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp. It is a sin offering. “You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar. You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to Yahweh; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. “You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and sprinkle the blood around on the altar. You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him. Also you shall take some of the ram’s fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Yahweh. You shall put all of this in Aaron’s hands, and in his sons’ hands, and shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma before Yahweh: it is an offering made by fire to Yahweh. “You shall take the breast of Aaron’s ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before Yahweh. It shall be your portion. You shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the wave offering, which is waved, and which is raised up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons. It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel; for it is a wave offering. It shall be a wave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their wave offering to Yahweh. “The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them. Seven days shall the son who is priest in his place put them on, when he comes into the Tent of Meeting to minister in the holy place. “You shall take the ram of consecration and boil its meat in a holy place. Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them; but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy. If anything of the meat of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy. “You shall do so to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. You shall consecrate them seven days. Every day you shall offer the bull of sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it. You shall anoint it, to sanctify it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall be holy.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That thou mayest do this in presence of them…
That thou mayest do this in presence of them all.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 8:9 And thou shalt bring the Levites before…
Num 8:9 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together:
Ver. 9. The whole assembly.] By their representatives the elders, or the firstborn; figuring the Church of Christ, those "firstborn which are written in heaven." {Heb 12:23}
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle…
And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation,.... Not without it, but within it, in the court of the tabernacle, at least at the door of it, where stood the altar of burnt offering, on which sacrifices for them were now to be offered:
and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together; the heads of the tribes, and elders of the people, as Aben Ezra interprets this phrase in Lev 8:3; where the whole congregation is said to be assembled at the consecration of the priests, as here at the consecration of the Levites, having a concern therein, as well as to be spectators and witnesses of this solemn affair; and no doubt as many of them as could conveniently assemble at the door of the tabernacle did, though every individual of that large body of people could not possibly do it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children…
thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together, &c.--As it was plainly impossible that the whole multitude of the Israelites could do this, a select portion of them must be meant. This party, who laid their hands upon the Levites, are supposed by some to have been the first-born, who by that act, transferred their peculiar privilege of acting as God's ministers to the Levitical tribe; and by others, to have been the princes, who thus blessed them. It appears, from this passage, that the imposition of hands was a ceremony used in consecrating persons to holy offices in the ancient, as, from the example of our Lord and His apostles, it has been perpetuated in the Christian Church.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9, 10. The whole assembly — Representatively, through the…
9, 10. The whole assembly — Representatively, through the elders and principal persons of the several tribes. See Num_1:18; Num_14:2; Num_14:7, notes. Moreover, it would be impossible for all the children of Israel to put their hands upon the Levites. This is a natural form by which benediction has been expressed in all ages and among all people. It is usually the act of one superior in age or official position. Neither Moses nor Aaron monopolizes this ceremony, because the aim of this symbolic act is not to confer authority, but to transfer to the Levites the national obligation to serve Jehovah in the person of the firstborn of Israel. Hence the rite is performed by the tribe-princes in behalf of all the people, “as a sign that they released them from the possession of the nation, and assigned and handed them over to Jehovah” (Knobel) as perpetual substitutes for the firstborn. The authority came solely from him. No man, no body of men can make a true minister in holy things of one whom God has not qualified and called.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) The whole assembly of the children of Israel—i.e.,…
(9) The whole assembly of the children of Israel—i.e., as elsewhere, the representatives of the people.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 assemble the whole community
assemble the whole community
"gather the whole community"
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before Yahweh
Here Yahweh refers to himself by his own name.
the people of Israel must lay their hands on the Levites
The action "laying on hands" on someone was often done to dedicate them to Yahweh's work or service. AT: "The people Israel must lay their hands on the Levites, dedicating them to me" (See: Symbolic Action)
as a wave offering
Aaron was to present the Levites to Yahweh with the same amount of dedication as if they were a sacrifice given to him. AT: "if they were a wave offering" (See: Simile)
translationWords
tent of meeting
Yahweh
hand
servant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.