Bilangan 8:11

8:11 and Aaron is to offer ¹  the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, that they may do the work ²  of the Lord.

Bilangan 8:21

8:21 The Levites purified themselves ³  and washed their clothing; then Aaron presented them like a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them.

Bilangan 18:6

18:6 I myself have chosen ⁴  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ⁵  of the tent of meeting.

[8:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text actually has “wave the Levites as a wave offering.” The wave offering was part of the ritual of the peace offering and indicated the priest’s portion being presented to God in a lifted, waving motion for all to see. The Levites were going to be in the sanctuary to serve the Lord and assist the priests. It is unclear how Moses would have presented them as wave offerings, but the intent is that they would be living sacrifices, as Paul would later say in Rom 12:1 for all Christians.

[8:11]  ² tn The construction emphasizes the spiritual service of the Levites, using the infinitive construct of עָבַד (’avad) followed by its cognate accusative.

[8:21]  ³ tn The verb is the Hitpael of חָטָּא (khatta’). In this stem the meaning of the root “to sin” is likely to be connected to the noun “sin/purification” offering in a denominative sense, although some would take it as a privative usage, “to remove sin.” The idea is clear enough: They performed all the ritual in order to purify themselves ceremonially.

[18:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ⁵ tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.