Numbers 18:19-21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
19 As a perpetual due I assign to you and to your sons and daughters with you all the contributions of holy things which the Israelites set aside for the Lord; this is a covenant of salt[a] to last forever before the Lord, for you and for your descendants with you. 20 (A)Then the Lord said to Aaron:[b] You shall not have any heritage in their land nor hold any portion among them; I will be your portion and your heritage among the Israelites.
Tithes Due the Levites. 21 To the Levites, however, I hereby assign all tithes in Israel as their heritage in recompense for the labor they perform, the labor pertaining to the tent of meeting.(B)
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- 18:19 A covenant of salt: cf. 2 Chr 13:5. The reference may perhaps be to the preservative power of salt (cf. Mt 5:13); but more likely the phrase refers to the custom of eating salt together to render a contract unbreakable. See note on Lv 2:13.
- 18:20 The priests and Levites were forbidden to own hereditary land such as the other Israelites possessed; therefore in the allotment of the land (chap. 34) they did not receive any portion of it. Certain cities, however, were assigned to them for their residence; cf. 35:1–8.
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