Bible Strands
Joshua 18:7
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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua addresses the tribal representatives at Shiloh, explaining the land distribution plan just before the remaining seven tribes complete their survey.
The words — The text pairs אֵֽין (‘ein, “not”) with חֵ֤לֶק (chelek, “portion”) to declare the Levites receive no territory, then uses כְהֻנַּ֥ת (khehunat, “priesthood”) to define their actual inheritance.
The thread — This allocation pattern appears in Joshua 13:33, which records Moses granting the Levites no land, and Numbers 18:20, which states Aaron will have no portion in Israel’s territory.
Why it lands — The verse demands readers acknowledge that priestly service substitutes for territorial ownership among the Levites, while confirming the eastern tribes already hold their granted inheritance.
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
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.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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.
- Joshua 13:8 The other half of Manasseh, along with the Reubenites and Gadites, had received the inheritance Moses had given them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had assigned to them:
- Numbers 18:23 The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.
- Numbers 32:29 And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, with every man armed for battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.
- Deuteronomy 3:12 So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 18:1 The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the LORD; that is their inheritance.
- Deuteronomy 4:47 They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—