Numbers Chapter 3 verse 9 Holy Bible
And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him on the behalf of the children of Israel.
read chapter 3 in ASV
Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; so that they may be his without question from among the children of Israel.
read chapter 3 in BBE
And thou shalt give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given to him out of the children of Israel.
read chapter 3 in DARBY
And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.
read chapter 3 in KJV
And thou shalt give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given to him out of the children of Israel.
read chapter 3 in WBT
You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel.
read chapter 3 in WEB
and thou hast given the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are surely given to him out of the sons of Israel.
read chapter 3 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9. They are wholly given unto him. The word nethunim (wholly given) is emphatic here, and in Numbers 8:16. As the whole house of Israel at large, so especially (for a reason which will presently appear) the tribe of Levi belonged absolutely to God; and he, as absolutely, made them over to Aaron and the priests for the service of his sanctuary. Cf. Ephesians 4:11, "gave some apostles," etc. The Levites, as gifts from God (nethunim) to their brethren the priests, must be distinguished from the nethinim or serfs of foreign extraction given by the congregation to the Levites to do their most menial work for them (Joshua 9:27).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9) They are wholly given unto him.--Hebrew, Given, given are they to him. This repetition of the word nethunim (given) is emphatic. The same repetition occurs in Numbers 8:16, where the Levites are represented as "wholly given" to the Lord instead of the firstborn; and in Numbers 3:19 of that chapter, as in Numbers 3:12 of this chapter, they are represented as being given by Him to Aaron and his sons. The word nethunim must not be confounded with Nethinim, the name given at a later date (1Chronicles 9:2; Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah 3:26; Nehemiah 3:31) to the Gibeonites, who were made "hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord" (Joshua 9:27). The tribe of Levi had proved themselves the most zealous for the honour of the Lord at the time of the worship of the golden calf (Exodus 32:26-29), and it was then that Moses gave them the charge to consecrate themselves (literally, to fill their hands, comp. Numbers 3:3 of this chapter) to the Lord. There was, therefore, a special reason for the selection of this tribe, independently of the fact that Moses and Aaron (and consequently the priests, as the descendants of Aaron) belonged to it. . . .
