Numbers 18 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 4 Similar 7 Different 12 Divergent 3 Disparate 6
Disparate in this chapter: 18:7, 18:12, 18:18, 18:29, 18:30, 18:32
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
Division of Duties
18:1 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:1 YHWH said to Aaron: You, your sons, and your ancestral house with you shall bear responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary; you and your sons with you shall bear responsibility for offenses against your priesthood.
Greek · Saints priority
18:1 The Lord said to Aaron: You, your sons, and your ancestral house shall bear the sins concerning the holy things; you and your sons shall bear the sins concerning your priesthood.
Both assign accountability for sanctuary and priestly offenses; this is not a difference in who bears responsibility.
18:2 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:2 Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, your father's tribe, near with you, so that they may join you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the Tent of Testimony.
Greek · Saints priority
18:2 Bring your brothers, the tribe of Levi, your father's clan, near to yourself; let them join you and minister to you, while you and your sons with you are before the Tent of Testimony.
Both say Testimony here. Hebrew also plays on Levi and “join”; the shared title is not a textual difference.
18:3 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:3 They shall keep your charge and the charge of the whole tent, but they shall not approach the holy vessels or the altar, so that neither they nor you die.
Greek · Saints priority
18:3 They shall keep your charges and the charges of the tent, but they shall not approach the holy vessels or the altar, and neither they nor you shall die.
The prohibition and death warning agree. Greek uses plural charges and a straightforward negative; Hebrew frames the final warning as purpose.
18:4 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:4 They shall join you and keep the charge of the Tent of Meeting for all the service of the tent. An unauthorized person shall not approach you.
Greek · Saints priority
18:4 They shall join you and keep the charges of the Tent of Testimony for all the ministries of the tent. An outsider shall not approach you.
Meeting / Testimony; service / ministries. The outsider is outside the authorized priestly service, not necessarily a foreign national.
18:5 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:5 You shall keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar, so that wrath no longer falls on the sons of Israel.
Greek · Saints priority
18:5 You shall keep the charges of the holy things and the charges of the altar, and there shall be no wrath among the sons of Israel.
Hebrew explicitly says “no longer”; Greek lacks that retrospective qualification.
18:6 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:6 Look, I Myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel. They are given to you as a gift, dedicated to YHWH, to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting.
Greek · Saints priority
18:6 I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel, a gift given to the Lord, to perform the ministries of the Tent of Testimony.
Greek lacks Hebrew's explicit “to you” and retains dedication to the Lord; Meeting / Testimony also differs.
18:7 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:7 You and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood in everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you shall serve. I give you your priesthood as a service of gift. The unauthorized person who approaches shall be put to death.
Greek · Saints priority
18:7 You and your sons with you shall preserve your priesthood in every matter of the altar and what is inside the veil, and you shall perform the ministries as a gift of your priesthood. The outsider who approaches shall die.
Hebrew explicitly gives the priesthood as a gift and orders execution; Greek describes the ministries as a gift of priesthood and states that the intruder will die. Both refer to approaching.
Provision for the Priests
18:8 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:8 YHWH spoke to Aaron: Look, I have given you charge of My contributions, all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you as an allotted portion, and to your sons as a perpetual statute.
Greek · Saints priority
18:8 The Lord spoke to Aaron: Look, I have given you charge of the firstfruits. From everything consecrated to Me by the sons of Israel, I have given these to you as a share of honor, and to your sons after you, as a perpetual ordinance.
Contributions / firstfruits; allotted portion / share of honor. Hebrew lemashchah can denote a privileged portion; “because of anointing” is not the only possible reading.
18:9 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:9 This shall be yours from the most holy things, reserved from the fire: all their offerings, all their grain offerings, all their sin offerings, and all their guilt offerings that they render to Me. These are most holy for you and your sons.
Greek · Saints priority
18:9 This shall be yours from the consecrated holy offerings: from all their gifts, all their sacrifices, every trespass offering, and all their sin offerings that they render to Me. From all the holy things these shall belong to you and your sons.
Hebrew specifies the fire-reserved portion and grain offerings; Greek uses a broader offering list and reverses guilt/sin order. Its offering terminology does not deny burning.
18:10 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:10 You shall eat it in a most holy place; every male may eat it. It shall be holy to you.
Greek · Saints priority
18:10 You shall eat them in the most holy place; every male may eat them—you and your sons. They shall be holy to you.
Greek explicitly adds “you and your sons.” Both sacred-place expressions require contextual interpretation; they do not by themselves establish different rooms in which to eat.
Rabbinic reception: Rashi locates the eating of these most holy offerings in the courtyard and restricts it to male priests. His explanation shows why the sacred-place phrase need not mean dining inside the inner chamber.
Source: Rashi, Numbers 18:10
18:11 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:11 This also is yours: the contribution from their gifts, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you, your sons, and your daughters with you as a perpetual statute. Everyone clean in your house may eat them.
Greek · Saints priority
18:11 This also shall be yours: the firstfruit of their gifts. From all the presented portions of the sons of Israel I have given these to you, your sons, and your daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone clean in your house may eat them.
Contribution and wave offerings / firstfruit and presented portions. The Greek term for the presented portions is epithemata.
18:12 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:12 All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the new wine and grain—their first portion that they give to YHWH—I have given to you.
Greek · Saints priority
18:12 Every firstfruit of oil and every firstfruit of wine and grain—their firstfruit that they give to the Lord—I have given to you.
Hebrew explicitly selects the best produce; Greek repeatedly selects firstfruits. Quality and priority are different criteria for the priestly due, though a firstfruit can also be choice.
18:13 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:13 The first-ripe produce of everything in their land that they bring to YHWH shall be yours. Everyone clean in your house may eat it.
Greek · Saints priority
18:13 All the first produce of everything in their land that they bring to the Lord shall be yours. Everyone clean in your house may eat it.
18:14 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:14 Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.
Greek · Saints priority
18:14 Everything placed under a vow of devotion among the sons of Israel shall be yours.
Both concern devoted property. Greek anatethematismenon is related to anathema vocabulary; that lexical relationship does not itself create a Hebrew–Greek opposition.
18:15 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:15 Everything that opens the womb of all flesh that they present to YHWH, human or animal, shall be yours. Yet you must redeem the human firstborn, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.
Greek · Saints priority
18:15 Everything that opens the womb of all flesh that they present to the Lord, from human beings to livestock, shall be yours. Yet the human firstborn shall be redeemed by a ransom, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean livestock.
Both require redemption of human and unclean-animal firstborn; the Greek makes the ransom noun explicit.
18:16 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:16 You shall redeem them from one month old, at your valuation of five silver shekels by the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.
Greek · Saints priority
18:16 Its redemption shall be from one month old; the valuation is five shekels by the holy shekel, which is twenty obols.
Gerahs / obols are different named small units. Greek siklos is rendered shekel. No modern purchasing-power equivalence is implied.
18:17 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:17 But you shall not redeem the firstborn of cattle, sheep, or goats; they are holy. You shall dash their blood against the altar and turn their fat into smoke as a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to YHWH.
Greek · Saints priority
18:17 But you shall not redeem the firstborn of calves, sheep, or goats; they are holy. You shall pour their blood against the altar and offer up the fat as an offering, a fragrant aroma to the Lord.
Dash / pour; turn into smoke as a fire offering / offer up an offering. The sacrificial procedure agrees in its broad outline.
18:18 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:18 Their flesh shall be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours.
Greek · Saints priority
18:18 Their flesh shall be yours, just as the breast of the presented portion and the right foreleg shall be yours.
Right thigh / right foreleg changes the anatomical description of the priestly portion; wave offering / presented portion also differs.
18:19 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:19 All the contributions of the holy things that the sons of Israel contribute to YHWH I have given to you, your sons, and your daughters with you as a perpetual statute. It is a perpetual covenant of salt before YHWH for you and your offspring with you.
Greek · Saints priority
18:19 Every portion removed from the holy things that the sons of Israel remove for the Lord I have given to you, your sons, and your daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of everlasting salt before the Lord for you and your offspring after you.
Both establish the salt covenant and priestly household entitlement. Greek attaches “everlasting” grammatically to salt and says offspring “after you.”
18:20 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:20 YHWH said to Aaron: You shall have no inheritance in their land, and no share among them. I am your share and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.
Greek · Saints priority
18:20 The Lord spoke to Aaron: You shall not inherit in their land, and you shall have no share among them, because I am your share and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.
The divine-inheritance claim is shared; its theological importance alone does not make the texts Disparate.
Tithes and Offerings
18:21 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:21 To the sons of Levi, look, I have given every tithe in Israel as an inheritance in return for the service they perform, the service of the Tent of Meeting.
Greek · Saints priority
18:21 To the sons of Levi, look, I have given every tithe in Israel as an allotment in return for their ministries, the service they perform in the Tent of Testimony.
Meeting / Testimony; inheritance / allotment; service / ministries. Both grant the tithe to the Levites.
18:22 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:22 The sons of Israel shall no longer approach the Tent of Meeting, incurring sin and dying.
Greek · Saints priority
18:22 The sons of Israel shall no longer approach the Tent of Testimony, incurring a death-bringing sin.
Hebrew states sin followed by death; Greek describes the sin as death-bringing. The consequence agrees; a direct literary dependence of 1 John 5 is not established by this wording.
18:23 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:23 The Levite himself shall perform the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their guilt. It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. Among the sons of Israel they shall receive no inheritance.
Greek · Saints priority
18:23 The Levite himself shall perform the ministry of the Tent of Testimony, and they shall bear their offenses. It is a perpetual ordinance throughout their generations. Among the sons of Israel they shall receive no inheritance.
Meeting / Testimony; “your generations” / “their generations.” The Levites' responsibility and exclusion from territorial inheritance agree.
18:24 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:24 For the tithes of the sons of Israel that they contribute to YHWH as a contribution I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them: Among the sons of Israel they shall receive no inheritance.
Greek · Saints priority
18:24 For the tithes of the sons of Israel that they set apart for the Lord as a removed portion I have given to the Levites as an allotment. Therefore I have said to them: Among the sons of Israel they shall receive no allotment.
Both substitute the tithe for a territorial allotment; offering and inheritance vocabulary differs modestly.
18:25 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:25 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying:
Greek · Saints priority
18:25 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
18:26 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:26 Speak to the Levites and say to them: When you receive from the sons of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, you shall contribute from it a contribution to YHWH, a tithe of the tithe.
Greek · Saints priority
18:26 You shall speak to the Levites and say to them: When you receive from the sons of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them as an allotment, you shall remove from it a portion for the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.
The tithe-of-the-tithe obligation agrees.
18:27 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:27 Your contribution shall be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor and as the full yield from the winepress.
Greek · Saints priority
18:27 Your removed portions shall be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor and as a removed portion from the winepress.
Full yield / removed portion changes the second comparison.
18:28 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:28 Thus you also shall contribute a contribution to YHWH from all your tithes that you receive from the sons of Israel; from them you shall give YHWH's contribution to Aaron the priest.
Greek · Saints priority
18:28 Thus you also shall remove from the Lord's removed portions, from all your tithes that you receive from the sons of Israel; from them you shall give a removed portion for the Lord to Aaron the priest.
Greek speaks of removing from already designated portions; Hebrew directly orders a contribution from the tithes. Aaron remains the recipient.
18:29 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:29 From all your gifts you shall contribute every contribution due to YHWH, from all its best, the holy portion from it.
Greek · Saints priority
18:29 From all your gifts you shall remove a portion for the Lord, or from all the firstfruits the consecrated portion from it.
Best / firstfruits changes the stated selection criterion. Greek's connective ē, “or,” makes the formulation less direct than the Hebrew.
18:30 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:30 Say to them: When you contribute the best from it, the remainder shall be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and the produce of the winepress.
Greek · Saints priority
18:30 You shall say to them: When you remove the firstfruit from it, it shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce from the threshing floor and produce from the winepress.
The release of the Levites' portion follows removal of the best in Hebrew and the firstfruit in Greek.
18:31 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:31 You and your households may eat it in any place, for it is your wages in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.
Greek · Saints priority
18:31 You and your households may eat it in any place, for these are your wages in return for your ministries in the Tent of Testimony.
Meeting / Testimony; service / ministries. Payment for service and freedom of eating location agree.
Apostolic reception: Paul appeals to the support received by sanctuary and altar workers when explaining the right of Gospel ministers to material support. He applies the priestly provision pattern to Christian ministry.
Source: 1 Corinthians 9:13–14
18:32 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
18:32 You shall incur no sin through it when you contribute the best from it. You shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, and you shall not die.
Greek · Saints priority
18:32 You shall incur no sin through it when you remove the firstfruit from it. You shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, so that you do not die.
Best / firstfruit changes the criterion attached to avoiding guilt; both retain the warning against profanation and death.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.