Deuteronomy 18:6

Now if a Levite moves from any town of residence throughout Israel and comes in all earnestness to the place the LORD will choose,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering statutory instructions regarding the tribal allocation and ministerial duties of Levi before the nation enters Canaan.

The words — יָבֹא (ya.Vo') renders literally as "he will come," and הַלֵּוִי (ha.le.Vi) means "the Levite," establishing the conditional subject who must relocate to the central sanctuary.

The thread — This relocation mandate parallels the Levite city distributions in Numbers 35:2 and aligns with the repeated Deuteronomic command to gather at the place the LORD will choose (Deuteronomy 12:5; Deuteronomy 16:2).

Why it lands — The passage requires a Levite to abandon his local residence and travel to the designated worship site to perform ministerial functions alongside the established priesthood.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the Lord shall choose;

Cross-references

Numbers 35:2 “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities.
Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
Deuteronomy 16:2 You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.
Psalms 26:8 O LORD, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.
Psalms 27:4 One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and seek Him in His temple.
Psalms 63:1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
Psalms 84:5 Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
Psalms 84:10 For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
1 Timothy 3:1 This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task.
1 Peter 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;