Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 33:8
Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses pronounces a blessing over Levi while addressing the tribes of Israel. This declaration occurs at the conclusion of his life as he prepares the people for entry into the Promised Land.
The words — The text highlights תֻּמֶּיךָ (tu.Mei./kha, "your Thummim") and וְ/אוּרֶיךָ (ve./'u.Rei./kha, "and your Urim"), sacred objects assigned to the priestly office. It employs נִסִּיתוֹ (ni.si.T/o, "you put to the test") to record God's examination of Levi's obedience.
The thread — The Urim and Thummim are later placed in the high priest's breastpiece in Exodus 28:30. The locations Massah and Meribah appear in Exodus 17:7 and Numbers 20:13 as sites where Israel quarreled and tested God.
Why it lands — The verse commands the preservation of priestly discernment for the leader proven faithful through trial. It requires the reader to accept that divine favor rests on covenant obedience rather than natural family ties.
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 of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Cross-references
- Exodus 17:7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
- Exodus 28:30 And place the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece of judgment, so that they will also be over Aaron’s heart whenever he comes before the LORD. Aaron will continually carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD.
- Numbers 20:13 These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed His holiness among them.
- Leviticus 8:8 Then he put the breastpiece on him and placed the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece.
- Psalms 106:16 In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
- Exodus 28:36 You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD.
- Leviticus 21:7 A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
- Numbers 16:5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses He will bring near to Himself.
- Numbers 27:21 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the LORD by the judgment of the Urim. At his command, he and all the Israelites with him—the entire congregation—will go out and come in.”
- Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.