Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.
This verse Autodidact and up
A passage Seminary Student
Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.
Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.
The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.
Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon the clan of the Libnite and the clan of the Shimeite. These they, the clans of the Gershonite.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
From Gershon came the Libnite clan and the Shimeite clan; these were the Gershonite clans.
From Gershon came the Libnite clan and the Shimeite clan; these were the Gershonite clans.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon came the familie of the Libnites, and the familie of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gerson were two families, the Lebnites, and the Semeites:
Of Gershon `is' the family of the Libnite, and the family of the Shimite; these are the families of the Gershonite.
Of Gershon—the family of the Libnite and the family of the Shimite; these are the families of the Gershonite.
The clans of the Libnites and the Shimeites come from Gershon. These are the clans of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon the clan of the Libnite and the clan of the Shimeite. These they, the clans of the Gershonite.
Of Gershon, the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites. These are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
The family of Libni and the family of Shimei came from Gershon. These were the families of Gershon.
From Gershon come the Libnites and the Shimeites; these are the families of the Gershonites.
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites; these are the families of the Gershonites.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →
Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →
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 →
Notable vocabulary
The rarest word here is הַלִּבְנִ֔י Libnites H3846 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.
First appearance in Scripture
These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:
Shared distinctive vocabulary
הַלִּבְנִ֔י Libnites H3846 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
Repetition
A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 21 words from the Hebrew and 18 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 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.
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.
לְגֵ֣רְשׁ֔וֹן מִשְׁפַּ֨חַת֙ הַלִּבְנִ֔י וּמִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַשִּׁמְעִ֑י אֵ֣לֶּה הֵ֔ם מִשְׁפְּחֹ֖ת הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּֽי
Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
World English Bible · Public Domain
ὁ γεδσων δῆμος ὁ λοβενι καί δῆμος ὁ σεμεϊ οὗτος δῆμος ὁ γεδσων
To Gedson belongs the family of Lobeni, and the family of Semei: these are the families of Gedson.
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 →
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.
לְגֵרְשׁוֹן זַרְעִית לִבְנִי וְזַרְעִית שִׁמְעִי אִלֵין אִנוּן זַרְעֲיַת גֵרְשׁוֹן
(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.
לְגֵרְשׁוֹן גְנִיסַת לִבְנִי וּגְנִיסַת שִׁמְעִי אִילֵין הִינוּן גְנִיסַת גֵרְשׁוֹן
Of Gershon, the family of Libni, and the family of Shemei; these are the families of Gershon.
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.
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 9 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Libnîy (“Libnites”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on Numbers 3:21 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
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
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch
Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)
Kretzmann's Popular Commentary
Paul E. Kretzmann
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes
Door43 World Missions Community
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)
Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.