Numbers 18:21

Summary

The verse records a statement addressed to the descendants of Levi, announcing that all the tithe in Israel has been given to them as an inheritance. This gift is explicitly tied to a specific reason: it is compensation for the service they perform at the Tent of Meeting.

Key words

• na.Ta.ti ("I give", H5414) — qal perfect, first person singular. The completed aspect of the perfect presents the giving as an accomplished act, not a future promise.
• ma.'a.Ser ("tithe", H4643) — masculine singular noun in construct with kol ("every/all", H3605), forming "all/every tithe."
• na.cha.Lah ("inheritance", H5159) — feminine singular noun, marked by the preposition le ("for", H9005), indicating the purpose or category into which the tithe is placed.
• Che.lef ("in return for", H2500) — masculine singular noun in construct, introducing the exchange relationship between the gift and the service rendered.
• 'oe.Dim ("[are] serving", H5647) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing an ongoing action performed by the subject hem ("they", H1992), the Levites.

What the text says

The sentence opens with ve.li.v.Nei Le.vi ("and to the sons of Levi"), fronting the recipients before the verb, a common Hebrew word order that emphasizes the beneficiary. The interjection hi.Neh ("here!", H2009) draws attention to the statement that follows, functioning almost as a presentational marker before the main verbal clause. The verb na.Ta.ti ("I give"), in the qal perfect, frames the giving as a completed, settled act from the speaker's point of view.

The object is kol-ma.'a.Ser be.Yis.ra.'El ("every tithe in Israel"), and its assigned status is marked by le.na.cha.Lah ("for an inheritance"). The reasoning is then introduced by Che.lef ("in return for"), a construct noun that sets up an exchange: the tithe is given in place of or as compensation for something. That something is specified as 'a.vo.da.Tam ("their service"), followed by a relative clause built with 'a.Sher ("which") and the participle 'oe.Dim ("they are serving"), which describes the service as an ongoing activity performed by the Levites (hem, "they"). The final phrase, 'et-'a.vo.Dat 'O.hel mo.'Ed ("the service of the Tent of Meeting"), uses the direct object marker 'et to specify exactly what that service consists of, in construct chain with 'O.hel mo.'Ed ("Tent of Meeting").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders na.cha.Lah ("inheritance") as ἐν κλήρῳ ("as a portion/lot"), a term related to allotment rather than the more general "inheritance" of the Hebrew. The Vulgate translates the closing relative clause with serviunt mihi ("they serve me"), adding a first-person pronoun ("me") not present in the Hebrew, which states only that they serve at/in the Tent of Meeting without specifying an explicit object of service.