Exodus 32:28

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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לֵוִ֖י

Lêvîy

H3878

“Levi”

Noun, Proper

Appears 64× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 29:34

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3867

TWOT: 1093

Levi = "joined to" - the 3rd son of Jacob by Leah and progenitor of tribe of Levites

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 →

13: words
13: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
7 nouns
2 adjectives
1 pronoun
1 preposition

Verb forms

וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֥וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיִּפֹּ֤ל Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 23 words from the Hebrew and 27 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 13 Hebrew tokens and 21 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 Exodus 32:28 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 33:9 Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him; Neither did he acknowledge his brothers, Nor knew he his own children: For they have observed your word, Keep your covenant.
Numbers 16:32–35 and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who appertained to Korah, and all their goods.
Numbers 16:41 But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of Yahweh.
Malachi 2:4–6 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi," says Yahweh of Hosts.
1 Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.
Hebrews 2:2–3 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense;

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 Exodus 32:28 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֥וּ בְנֵֽי לֵוִ֖י כִּדְבַ֣ר מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיִּפֹּ֤ל מִן הָעָם֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא כִּשְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת אַלְפֵ֖י אִֽישׁ

The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 32:28 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ποιέω ὁ υἱός λευί καθά λαλέω αὐτός μωυσῆς καί πίπτω ἐκ ὁ λαός ἐν ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἡμέρα εἰς τρισχίλιοι ἀνήρ

And the sons of Levi did as Moses spoke to them, and there fell of the people in that day to the number of three thousand men.

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)

וַעֲבָדוּ בְנֵי לֵוִי כְּפִתְגָמָא דְמשֶׁה וּנְפַל מִן עַמָא בְּיוֹמָא הַהוּא כִּתְלָתָא אַלְפִין גַבְרָא:

(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)

וְעָבָדוּ בְנֵי לֵוִי הֵי כְּפִתְגָמָא דְמשֶׁה וּנְפָלוּ מִן עַמָּא דַּהֲוָה סִימָן בְּאַפֵּיהוֹן בִּקְטִילַת סָיְיפָא בְּיוֹמָא הַהוּא כְּמִנְיַן תְּלָתָא אַלְפִין גַּבְרָא

And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Mosheh; and of the people who had the mark in their nostrils there fell that day by the slaughter of the sword about the number of three thousand men.

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 Exodus 32:28 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 →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

Ver. 28. About three thousand.] Chieftains and ringleaders.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Exo 32:28. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men — Probably these were but few in comparison with the many that were guilty; but these were the men that headed the rebellion, and were therefore picked out to be made examples of, for terror to others.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 28. There fell about three thousand men.] These were no doubt the chief transgressors; having broken the covenant by having other gods besides Jehovah, they lost the Divine protection, and then the justice of God laid hold on and slew them. Moses doubtless had positive orders from God for this act of justice, (see Ex 32:27); for though, through his intercession, the people were spared so as not to be exterminated as a nation, yet the principal transgressors, those who were set on mischief, Ex 32:22, were to be put to death.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Gill's Exposition

For Moses had said,.... To the Levites, when he first gave them their orders:

consecrate yourselves today to the Lord; devote yourselves to his service, by obeying his orders, slaying those, or the heads of them, who have cast so much contempt upon him as to worship the golden calf in his room; and which would be as acceptable to him as the offerings were, by which Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the Lord; and as these Levites were consecrated to his service this day, on this account:

even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; not sparing the nearest relation found in this idolatry, and for which the tribe of Levi is commended and blessed in the blessing of Moses, Deu 33:8 and as it follows:

that he may bestow a blessing upon you this day; which was their being taken into the service of God to minister to the priests in the sanctuary, to bear the vessels of the Lord, and for their maintenance to have the tithes of the people: this day was, according to the Jewish writers (s), the seventeenth of Tammuz, or June, on which day the Jews keep a fast upon this account.

(s) Sedar Olam Rabba, c. 6. p. 18. Pirke Eliezer, c. 46.

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

About, &c. The Hebrew letter c means about, and stands also for twenty. All the versions, and some copies of the Vulgate, retain the first signification; but our edition gives also the second. Sixtus V. and the Louvain Bible have about 33,000. (Haydock) --- St. Paul (1 Corinthians x. 7, 8,) mentions, that three and twenty thousand perished, in punishment of their fornication (with the Moabites), which some explain of the adoration of the calf, and say that Moses only specifies those slain by the Levites; while St. Paul gives the number of all those who perished by the hand of God on this occasion, ver. 35. (Calmet) --- St. Cyril, Alex. glap. 2, Sulpitius, and many other fathers, agree with the Vulgate. The fornication with the Moabites, was followed by the death of 24,000, Numbers xxv. 9. So that St. Paul cannot refer to it, unless he only mention those who perished in one day; and Moses expresses the total amount of the slain during the whole affair. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

And no more, for it is probable they slew only those whom they knew to have been the ringleaders to others in this mischief.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

About three thousand. We cannot gather from this, as some have done, that the Levites who rallied to Moses were only 3, 000 for every Levite was not obliged to kill a man but only that, when this number was slain, the idolaters desisted from their orgy

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

And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men - Probably these were but few in comparison with the many that were guilty; but these were the men that headed the rebellion, and were therefore picked out to be made examples of; for terror to others.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

three thousand of the people

"3000 of the people" (See: Numbers)

You have been placed into Yahweh's service

This probably means "You have been chosen to serve Yahweh" or "You have become Yahweh's servants."

for each of you has taken action against his son and his brother

The fact that they did this in obedience to God can be stated clearly. AT: "for you have obeyed Yahweh and killed your sons and your brothers" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

Levi

die

servant

bless

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

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.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 13 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Lêvîy (“Levi”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Levi” (Lêvîy) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Deuteronomy 33:9, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֥וּ» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 13 Hebrew ↔ 21 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
13 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 13 words in this verse.