To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance: The Hebrew phrase for To the Levites begins this verse to mark the change of topic from priests to Levites. De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling starts with “Concerning the Levites, them….” Good News Translation inserts the quote frame “The LORD said” to indicate that he is still speaking after the section heading. I have given (literally “behold I have given”) renders a Hebrew performative construction that not only includes a verb, but also the word hinneh, drawing attention to the LORD and what he does (compare verse 6). The very speech act here carries out the content of what he says. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh expresses well the performative sense of the Hebrew verb here by saying “I hereby give.” In a language like English this performative sense is expressed by a present tense. Other languages may use a continuative or customary verbal aspect for this purpose. Possible models for beginning this verse are “Listen, I hereby give to the Levites…” or even “Concerning the Levites, listen, I hereby give them….” The tithe refers to that part of what the soil produced (one tenth of the total) that the Israelites dedicated to the LORD as a sign of their gratitude to him for allowing the earth to produce. It provided the basic revenue for the Levites serving God in the Tabernacle. In some languages the idea of tithe may have to be translated “one part for every ten parts harvested.”

In return for their service which they serve, their service in the tent of meeting: See the comments on verse 6. The Hebrew verb for serve (ʿabad) and the two occurrences of the noun for service (ʿabodah) come from the same root (see 3.7). This verb plus cognate noun construction emphasizes the activity of service. In the tent of meeting is better rendered “at the Tent of Meeting” (New International Version).

In some languages it will be better to divide this verse into two sentences (so Good News Translation) as follows:

• “Listen, I hereby give to the Levites every tithe that the Israelites present to me. This is in payment for their service in taking care of the Tent of Meeting.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .