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Joshua 18:7

in Joshua 18

The Levites, however, have no portion among you, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the LORD. And Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received the inheritance that Moses the servant of the LORD gave them beyond the Jordan to the east.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For the Levites have no portion among you; for the priesthood of Jehovah is their inheritance: and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them.

KJV

But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.

This verse in Joshua 18

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance - We have already seen that the priests and Levites had the sacrifices, oblations tithes, first-fruits, redemption-money of the firstborn, etc., for their inheritance; they had no landed possessions in Israel; the Lord was their portion.

This site's exposition

How long will you put off entering

on Joshua 18:3-7

Joshua rebukes his own people for slowness rather than rebellion, the one place in the book where he does. Barnes reads the delay as reluctance to leave the camp life they were born into for the fighting that settlement would still cost. Three men from each tribe survey the land before the lot, and verse 7 leaves the Levites no portion, since "their inheritance is the priesthood of the LORD".

This site's exposition

their inheritance is the priesthood of the LORD

Clarke lists what the priesthood brought the Levites in place of fields: sacrifices, offerings, tithes, firstfruits and the redemption money of the firstborn. Chapter 21 still gives them towns to live in. The eastern grant to Gad, Reuben and half of Manasseh is the one Moses made at Numbers 32:33.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

) why they must divide it into seven parts only, because the Levites were to have no temporal estate (as we say), but their benefices only, which were entailed upon their families: The priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance, and a very honourable, comfortable, plentiful inheritance it was.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

But the Levites have no part among you,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

For this purpose a commission was given to twenty-one persons--three chosen from each of the seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance, to make an accurate survey of the country.

The words behind it

25 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כִּ֠יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אֵֽין־not

    ʾein-H369 →789 times

  • חֵ֤לֶקa portion

    chelekH2506 →67 times

  • לַלְוִיִּם֙[will belong] to the Levites

    lalviyimH3881 →291 times

  • בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֔םin midst your

    bekirbekhemH7130 →227 times

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • כְהֻנַּ֥ת[is] [the] priesthood of

    khehunatH3550 →

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • נַחֲלָת֑וֹinheritance its

    nachalatoH5159 →222 times

  • וְגָ֡דand Gad

    vegadH1410 →72 times

  • וּרְאוּבֵ֡ןand Reuben

    ureuvenH7205 →72 times

  • וַחֲצִי֩and [the] half of

    vachatziH2677 →125 times

  • שֵׁ֨בֶט[the] tribe of

    shevetH7626 →190 times

  • הַֽמְנַשֶּׁ֜ה<the> Manasseh

    hamnashehH4519 →146 times

  • לָקְח֣וּthey have received

    lakechuH3947 →966 times

  • נַחֲלָתָ֗םinheritance their

    nachalatamH5159 →222 times

  • מֵעֵ֤בֶרfrom [the] other side

    meeverH5676 →90 times

  • לַיַּרְדֵּן֙of the Jordan

    laiyardenH3383 →182 times

  • מִזְרָ֔חָהeast -ward

    mizrachahH4217 →74 times

  • אֲשֶׁר֙which

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • נָתַ֣ןhe gave

    natanH5414 →2011 times

  • לָהֶ֔םto <the> them

    lahem

  • מֹשֶׁ֖הMoses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • עֶ֥בֶד[the] servant of

    ʾevedH5650 →799 times

  • יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

7 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Numbers 18:20

    Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 10:9

      That is why Levi has no portion or inheritance among his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God promised him.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 18:1–2

      The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the offerings made by fire to the LORD; that is their inheritance.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 44:28

      In regard to their inheritance, I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.

    • Joshua 13:33

      To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as He had promised them.

    • Lamentations 3:24

      “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”

  • Through

    Joshua 13:33

    To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as He had promised them.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 13:14

      To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The offerings made by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, just as He had promised them.

    • Numbers 18:20

      Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

About Joshua

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and The Berean Standard Bible, Joshua 18, with the verses cited in the note.