Bilangan 18:20

Duties of the Levites

18:20 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property ¹  among them – I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

Bilangan 18:23

18:23 But the Levites must perform the service ²  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ³  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ⁴  have no inheritance. ⁵ 

[18:20]  ¹ tn The phrase “of property” is supplied as a clarification.

[18:23]  ² tn The verse begins with the perfect tense of עָבַד (’avad) with vav (ו) consecutive, making the form equal to the instructions preceding it. As its object the verb has the cognate accusative “service.”

[18:23]  ³ sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

[18:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:23]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses both the verb and the object from the same root to stress the point: They will not inherit an inheritance. The inheritance refers to land.