What Does Numbers 18:21 Mean in the King James?
And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Levites’ service is not outside the economy of inheritance: Israel’s tithe itself becomes their share.
THE MEANING
The verse shows shared provision flowing to the labor that tends the meeting place. The Levites’ inheritance is the tenth itself, so their service and material support belong to one arrangement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that service and material provision must be separate: here, the community’s tenth is the Levites’ inheritance for their service.
THE ROOT
עֲבֹדָה
ʿavodah
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
To work or serve.
English renders עֲבֹדָה as “service” and the related verb עֹבְדִים as “serve,” making them look like separate ideas. Hebrew repeats one root, עבד, whose wider family includes the word for a servant; the verse holds the Levites’ labor and its provision within one arrangement.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvad: To work or serve.
עָבַד
This is the verb behind “which they serve,” repeating the root of “service” in the same verse.
ʿeved: Servant or bondservant.
עֶבֶד
The same root names both the work of serving and a person who serves, tying the Levites’ labor to their role.
THE PATTERN
Communal resources are assigned to sustain the work that serves the community.
The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.THE THREAD
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.The same Hebrew root עבד stands behind “serve” in Exodus and “service” and “serve” in Numbers. Exodus names the people’s service to God; Numbers shows the Levites’ service held within a material inheritance.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us