Numbers 3:17
in Numbers 3These were the sons of Levi by name: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.
KJV
And these were the sons of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.
⋯
This verse in Numbers 3
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
These were the sons of Levi
on Numbers 3:17-20
The eight families named here are the working units of the rest of the chapter. Each of the three houses is about to receive a side of the tabernacle, a number, a chief and a load.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And these were the sons of Levi, by their names,.... The immediate offspring and descendants of that patriarch: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; these went down with him into Egypt, Gen 46:11.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Number the children of Levi--They were numbered as well as the other tribes; but the enumeration was made on a different principle--for while in the other tribes the number of males was calculated from twenty years and upward [Nu 1:3], in that of Levi they were counted "from a month old and upward." The reason for the distinction is obvious.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּֽהְיוּ־ | vaiyihyu- | and they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אֵ֥לֶּה | ʾeleh | these | H428 → | 746 times |
| בְנֵֽי־ | venei- | [the] sons of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לֵוִ֖י | levi | Levi | H3878 → | 59 times |
| בִּשְׁמֹתָ֑ם | bishmotam | by names their | H8034 → | 864 times |
| גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹן | gereshon | Gershon | H1648 → | 18 times |
| וּקְהָ֖ת | ukehat | and Kohath | H6955 → | 32 times |
| וּמְרָרִֽי׃ | umerari | and Merari | H4847 → | 36 times |
וַיִּֽהְיוּ־and they were
vaiyihyu-H1961 →3559 times
אֵ֥לֶּהthese
ʾelehH428 →746 times
בְנֵֽי־[the] sons of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
לֵוִ֖יLevi
leviH3878 →59 times
בִּשְׁמֹתָ֑םby names their
bishmotamH8034 →864 times
גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹןGershon
gereshonH1648 →18 times
וּקְהָ֖תand Kohath
ukehatH6955 →32 times
וּמְרָרִֽי׃and Merari
umerariH4847 →36 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 46:11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
it leads to
- Genesis 29:34
Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named…
- 1 Chronicles 2:16
Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the three sons of Zeruiah were Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.
- 1 Chronicles 22:1–19
Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God, as well as the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
- 1 Chronicles 2:11
Nahshon was the father of Salmon, and Salmon was the father of Boaz.
- 1 Chronicles 6:1–3
The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
- Genesis 29:34
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.