Exodus 6:17

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

2 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible
Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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Word by word

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לִבְנִ֥י

Libnîy

H3845

“Libni”

Noun, Proper

Appears 5× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3835

TWOT: None

Libni = "white" - the eldest son of Gershon and grandson of Levi

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 →

5: words
5: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is לִבְנִ֥י Libni H3845 — appearing just 5 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

לִבְנִ֥י Libni H3845
וְשִׁמְעִ֖י Shimei H8096

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לִבְנִ֥י Libni H3845 occurs in 5 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

5 nouns

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 11 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 6:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Chronicles 6:17 These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.
Numbers 3:18 These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.
1 Chronicles 23:7 Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
Genesis 46:11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

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.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 20 words vs World English Bible 11. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

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

Hebrew Exodus 6:17 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

בְּנֵ֥י גֵרְשׁ֛וֹן לִבְנִ֥י וְשִׁמְעִ֖י לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם

The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 6:17 Septuagint · lemma form

καί οὗτος υἱός γεδσων λοβενι καί σεμεϊ οἶκος πατριά αὐτός

And these are the sons of Gedson, Lobeni and Semei, the houses of their family. And the sons of Caath,

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)

בְּנֵי גֵרְשׁוֹן לִבְנִי וְשִׁמְעִי לְזַרְעֲיָתְהוֹן:

(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)

בְּנוֹי דְגֵרְשׁוֹם לִבְנִי וְשִׁמְעִי לְיִיחוּסֵיהוֹן

And the sons of Gershon, Libni and Shemei, according to their generations.

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 6:17 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 →

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

17. Libni and Shimei] Cf. Num_3:18; Num_3:21, 1Ch_6:17.

17–19. The sons of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

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.

The Pulpit Commentary

The sons of Gershon. The line of Gershon, as the eldest, is taken first. Moses and Aaron are descended from the second son. Shimi is called "Shimei" in 1Ch_6:17; but there is no difference in the original.

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

John Gill's Exposition

And the sons of Merari, Mahali, and Mushi,.... From whence sprung the families of the Mahalites, and Mushites, Num 3:33,

these are the families of Levi, according to their generations: the families that descended from him and his sons, according to the order of their birth.

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

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 5 words (5 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Libnîy (“Libni”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Libni” (Libnîy) shape what this verse is saying?
2 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Numbers 3:18 shares the word «Libni» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
Compared with the Hebrew, the Septuagint runs longer here. What questions does that raise?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
Reading how The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and The Pulpit Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

2 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
5 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 5 words in this verse.