Deuteronomy 31:25

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying,

World English Bible · Public Domain

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אֲר֥וֹן

ʼârôwn

H727

“ark of”

Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct

Appears 202× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 50:26

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H717 (in the sense of gathering)

TWOT: 166a

chest, ark - money chest - Ark of the Covenant - (TWOT)coffin

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
5 nouns
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיְצַ֤ו Piel · Sequential Imperfect
נֹ֥שְׂאֵ֛י Qal · Participle Active
לֵאמֹֽר Qal · Infinitive Construct

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 16 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 12 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 31:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 31:9 Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 31:25 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיְצַ֤ו מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶת הַלְוִיִּ֔ם נֹ֥שְׂאֵ֛י אֲר֥וֹן בְּרִית יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹֽר

that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 31:25 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐντέλλομαι ὁ λευίτης ὁ αἴρω ὁ κιβωτός ὁ διαθήκη κύριος λέγω

then he charged the Levites who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּפַקִיד מֹשֶׁה יָת לֵוָאֵי נָטְלֵי אֲרוֹן קְיָמָא דַיְיָ לְמֵימָר

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּפַקֵיד משֶׁה יַת לֵיוָאֵי נַטְלֵי אֲרוֹן קְיָימָא דַיְיָ לְמֵימָר

he commanded the Levites who bare the ark of the Lord’s covenant, saying:

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 31:25 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Deu 31:25-26. The Levites — The priests, (Deu 31:9,) who also were Levites. Put it in the side — Or, by the side of the ark, as the same word is rendered, 1Sa 6:8. For it does not appear that it was laid up within the ark, it being expressly said that there was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, 1Ki 8:9; 2Ch 5:10. Probably this was the very same book which, after having been some way misplaced, was found in the house of the Lord in the days of Josiah, and publicly read by the king himself, for a testimony against the people, who were then almost ripe for ruin.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

25. the Levites which bare, etc.] See on Deu_31:9, Deu_10:8, Deu_17:18. These cannot be P’s Levites, who could not enter the Holy of Holies where the Ark lay. On the Ark of the Covenant see note on Deu_10:8.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Take this book of the law,.... Not Deuteronomy only, but the whole Pentateuch:

and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; not in the ark, for there were nothing there but the two tables of stone with the ten commands on them, Kg1 8:9; but on one side of it; the Targum of Jonathan says, it was"put in a chest (or box) on the right side of the ark of the covenant;''which is very probable. Jarchi observes, that the wise men of Israel are divided about it in the Talmud (e); some of them say there was a table (or ledge) that stood out from the ark without, and there it was put; others say it was put on the side of the tables of the law within the ark; the former are in the right:

that it may be therefore a witness against thee; when they fall into idolatry or any other sin, a transgression of any of the laws therein contained.

(e) T. B. Bava Bathra, fol. 14. 1. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The Levites, i.e. the priests, Deu 31:9 who also were Levites.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The Levites, which bare the ark; i.e. the priests whose business it was to guard and to carry the ark of the covenant; "the priests the sons of Levi," as in ver. 9. According to Num_4:4, etc., it was the Kohathites who carried the ark on the journey through the desert; but they seem merely to have acted in this respect as the servants or helpers of the priests, who alone might touch the ark, and by whom it was carefully wrapped up before it was handed to the Kohathites. On special occasions the priests themselves carried the ark. (cf. Jos_3:3, etc.; Jos_4:9, 10 6:6, 12 8:33 1Ki_8:3)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The Levites - The priests, ver. 9, who also were Levites.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼârôwn (“ark”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ʼârôwn carries the sense “ark.” How does it shape the verse?
Deuteronomy 31:9 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וַיְצַ֤ו» is Piel Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Joseph Benson's Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.