Passage

Numbers 3.12-13

Book: Numbers · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"10. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 11. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,"

"12. And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine: 13. for all the first-born are mine; on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast; mine they shall be: I am Jehovah."

"14. And Jehovah spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15. Number the children of Levi by their fathers' houses, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them." (Numbers 3:10-15, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"10. You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.” 11. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,"

"12. “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine: 13. for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am Yahweh.”"

"14. Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15. “Count the children of Levi by their fathers’ houses, by their families. You shall count every male from a month old and upward.”" (Numbers 3:10-15, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"10. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 11. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,"

"12. And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; 13. Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the LORD."

"14. And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15. Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them." (Numbers 3:10-15, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"10. 'And Aaron and his sons thou dost appoint, and they have kept their priesthood, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.' 11. And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,"

"12. 'And I, lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every first-born opening a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites have been Mine; 13. for Mine [is] every first-born, in the day of My smiting every first-born in the land of Egypt I have sanctified to Myself every first-born in Israel, from man unto beast; Mine they are; I [am] Jehovah.'"

"14. And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15. 'Number the sons of Levi by the house of their fathers, by their families; every male from a son of a month and upward thou dost number them.'" (Numbers 3:10-15, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

H1060 - bechor

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.