Numbers 3:18

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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לִבְנִ֖י

Libnîy

H3845

“Libni”

Noun, Proper

Appears 5× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 6:17

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 →

7: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

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

Shared distinctive vocabulary

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

Grammatical profile

6 nouns
1 pronoun

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 17 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 7 Hebrew tokens and 13 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 Numbers 3:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 6:17–19 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.
1 Chronicles 6:17 These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.
Numbers 3:21 Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
1 Chronicles 6:20–21 Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,
1 Chronicles 23:7–11 Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
1 Chronicles 25:4 Of Heman; the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth.
1 Chronicles 26:1–32 For the divisions of the doorkeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.
Nehemiah 12:1–26 Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

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 Numbers 3:18 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאֵ֛לֶּה שְׁמ֥וֹת בְּֽנֵי גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם לִבְנִ֖י וְשִׁמְעִֽי

These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 3:18 Septuagint · lemma form

καί οὗτος ὁ ὄνομα ὁ υἱός γεδσων κατά δῆμος αὐτός λοβενι καί σεμεϊ

And these are the names of the sons of Gedson according to their families; Lobeni and Semei:

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)

וְאִלֵין שְׁמָהַת בְּנֵי גֵרְשׁוֹן לְזַרְעֲיַתְהוֹן לִבְנִי וְשִׁמְעִי

(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)

וְאִילֵין שְׁמָהַת בְּנֵי גֵרְשׁוֹן לִגְנִיסַתְהוֹן לִבְנִי וְשִׁמְעִי

And these are the names of the Beni Gershon, according to their families, Libni and Shemei.

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 Numbers 3:18 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 →

John Gill's Exposition

And these are the names of the sons of Gershon, by their families,.... Or to Gershon belonged two families, called after the names of his sons, who were now numbered, namely:

Libni and Shimei; and who are elsewhere mentioned as his sons, Exo 6:17; and from hence were the families of the Libnites and Shimites, as in Num 3:21.

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.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 7 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Libnîy (“Libni”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word Libnîy carries the sense “Libni.” How does it shape the verse?
Exodus 6:17 shares the word «Libni» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?

Things to notice

This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 13 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 3 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.