Polyglot Bible: Numbers: Numbers 18

This is a parallel-text biblical passage presenting Numbers 18 in two ancient versions side by side: the King James Version (English, with Strong's concordance numbers interleaved) and the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, abbreviated LXX). The chapter is a priestly legal text from the Torah, belonging to the tradition of Israelite cultic legislation. Its core argument is a divinely mandated economic and social contract: Aaron and his sons receive exclusive rights to serve at the altar and within the sanctuary veil, while the broader tribe of Levi assists them — and in exchange, priests and Levites receive specific material portions rather than land inheritance. The priests are assigned firstfruits, most holy offerings, firstborn animals, and devoted things; the Levites receive the tithes of all Israel as their inheritance in lieu of land. A notable regulatory claim runs throughout: unauthorized persons ("strangers") approaching the sanctuary face death, and this exclusion is what prevents divine wrath from falling on the wider Israelite community. The chapter closes with a second-order tithing rule — the Levites must themselves tithe a tenth of what they receive from Israel and give it to Aaron, treating it as equivalent in status to a farmer's grain offering.

Polyglot Bible: Numbers: Numbers 18

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