וַאֲנִ֞י הִנֵּ֧ה לָקַ֣חְתִּי אֶת־הַלְוִיִּ֗ם מִתּוֹךְ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל תַּ֧חַת כָּל־בְּכ֛וֹר פֶּ֥טֶר רֶ֖חֶם מִבְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֖י הַלְוִיִּֽם׃
Ich habe die Leviten aus der Mitte der Kinder Israel genommen statt aller Erstgeburt, die den Mutterleib erschließt, unter den Kindern Israel, und so gehören die Leviten mir.
Who is the Heir of Divine Things
[124] For He says “behold, I have taken the Levites in place of everyone who opens the womb from among the sons of Israel; they shall be their ransom” (Num. 3:12). So then we take and give, but in the full sense of the word we take only; it is by a license of language that we are said to give, for the reasons which I have mentioned. Note that He gives the Levites a correct name in calling them “ransom.” For nothing so well redeems the mind to freedom, as to take refuge with God and become His suppliant. And such is the profession of the consecrated tribe of Levi.
On the Birth of Abel and the Sacrifices Offered by him and by his Brother Cain
[118] We have it indeed on the authority of Moses that the Levites, who in place of the first-born were appointed to the service of Him who alone is worthy of service, were a ransom for all the others. “And behold I have taken,” he says, “the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, in place of every first-born that opens the womb from among the sons of Israel. They shall be their ransom and the Levites shall be mine, for every first-born is mine. On the day when I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt, I hallowed to myself every first-born in Israel” (Numb. 3:12, 13).