Numbers 18:6

Summary

Yehovah declares that he himself has taken the Levites — called "brothers" of Aaron — from among the Israelites, and describes them as a gift given to him, assigned to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting.

Key words

• laqachti ("I have taken", H3947G) — qal perfect, 1st person singular. The completed aspect frames the action as an accomplished fact, and the preceding independent pronoun 'ani ("I") plus hinneh ("here!") gives strong emphasis to the speaker's initiative.
• 'achei ("brothers of", H0251H) — masculine plural construct, forming a chain with the suffix -khem ("your"): "brothers of you," i.e., "your brothers." This construct designates the Levites' relation to the addressee (Aaron and his line).
• mattanah ("a gift", H4979) — feminine singular noun, standing in apposition to lakhem ("to you"). It names the status of the Levites relative to the addressee.
• netunim ("given/assigned ones", H5414G) — qal passive participle, masculine plural. Its plural form agrees with "your brothers, the Levites" rather than with the singular mattanah, producing an apposition where the plural participle restates the singular noun in personal terms.
• la'avod ("to serve", H5647H) — qal infinitive, expressing purpose: the goal for which the Levites are given.

What the text says

The verse opens with the sequence va-'ani hinneh laqachti — "and I, behold, I have taken" — stacking the independent pronoun, the presentative particle hinneh, and a perfect verb to foreground the speaker as sole agent of a completed act. The object is 'et-'achekhem ha-leviyim, "your brothers, the Levites," taken mi-tokh benei Yisra'el, "from among the sons of Israel."

The second half of the verse contains a grammatical asymmetry: lakhem mattanah netunim la-Yehovah. Mattanah ("a gift") is feminine singular, but the following participle netunim ("given ones") is masculine plural. The participle does not agree grammatically with mattanah; instead it agrees with the plural referent "your brothers, the Levites" from earlier in the sentence. This produces a construction where the singular abstract noun ("a gift") and the plural concrete participle ("given ones," referring to the Levites themselves) sit side by side in apposition, both modifying how the Levites relate to Yehovah. The clause closes with the infinitive la'avod, "to serve," introducing the purpose: performing 'avodat 'ohel mo'ed, "the service of the Tent of Meeting."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb laqachti ("I have taken") is rendered by the LXX as eilēpha ("I have taken"), matching the Hebrew's single verb of taking. The Vulgate instead uses two distinct verbs, dedi ("I gave") and tradidi ("I handed over"), describing the action as giving rather than taking, which shifts the verse's opening emphasis from Yehovah's act of selection to an act of donation. The LXX's doma dedomenon ("gift, given") shows the participle dedomenon agreeing in gender/number with doma (both neuter singular), unlike the Hebrew, where the participle netunim is plural and agrees with "the Levites" rather than with the singular mattanah.