Genesis 46:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

3 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹן

Gêrᵉshôwn

H1648

“Gershon”

Noun, Proper

Appears 17× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H1644

TWOT: None

Gershon or Gershom = "exile" - firstborn son of Levi born before Jacob's family went to Egypt

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 גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹן Gershon H1648 — appearing just 17 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

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

גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹן Gershon H1648
קְהָ֖ת Kohath H6955
וּמְרָרִֽי Merari H4847

Shared distinctive vocabulary

גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹן Gershon H1648 occurs in 17 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

5 nouns

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 8 words from the Hebrew and 9 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 5 Hebrew tokens and 7 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 Genesis 46:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 29:34 She conceived again, and bare a son. Said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore was his name called Levi.
Genesis 49:5–7 "Simeon and Levi are brothers; Weapons of violence are their swords.
Exodus 6:16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years.
Numbers 3:17–22 These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.
Numbers 4:1–49 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
Numbers 8:1–26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Numbers 26:57–58 These are those who were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites.
Deuteronomy 33:8–11 Of Levi he said, Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, Whom you did prove at Massah, With whom you did strive at the waters of Meribah;

1 Chronicles 2:1 These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,
1 Chronicles 2:11 and Nahshon became the father of Salma, and Salma became the father of Boaz,
1 Chronicles 2:16 and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.
1 Chronicles 6:1–3 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
1 Chronicles 6:16 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
1 Chronicles 22:1–19 Then David said, This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for 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 Genesis 46:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּבְנֵ֖י לֵוִ֑י גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹן קְהָ֖ת וּמְרָרִֽי

The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 46:11 Septuagint · lemma form

υἱός δέ λευί γηρσων κααθ καί μεραρι

And the sons of Levi; Gerson, Cath, and Merari.

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)

וּבְנֵי לֵוִי גֵּרְשׁוֹן קְהָת וּמְרָרִי

(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)

וּבְנוֹי דְלֵוִי גֵרְשׁוֹן וּקְהָת וּמְרָרִי

And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kehath and Merari.

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 Genesis 46:11 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 →

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Levi has three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

11. Gershon] In 1Ch_6:16, Gershom. In Exo_2:22 Gershom is the son of Moses. In Num_3:17; Num_3:38, the family of Gershon, and the families of Kohath and Merari, were entrusted with the care of the sanctuary.

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

And the sons of Issachar, Tola, and Phuvah; and Job, and Shimron. The first of these was the father of a numerous race in the days of David, their number was 22,600; See Gill on Ch1 7:2; the second is called Puah, and the third Jashub, and the fourth Shimrom, Ch1 7:1; and were all the heads of families, as appears from the places referred to.

; and were all the heads of families, as appears from the places referred to.

Genesis 46:14

gen 46:14

gen 46:14

gen 46:14And the sons of Zebulun, Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. Whose names are the same in Num 26:26.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

And the sons of Levi; Gershon, or Gershom, (Gesenins), Kohath, or Kehath, (Gesenius)and Merari, Ufi, happy" (Gesenius), Flowing" (Murphy), Harsh One" (Lange).

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

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.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 5 words (5 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Gêrᵉshôwn (“Gershon”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Gershon” (Gêrᵉshôwn) shape what this verse is saying?
3 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Exodus 6:16 shares the word «Gershon» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
Reading how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 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

3 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 5 Hebrew ↔ 7 Greek words.
5 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 5 words in this verse.