You shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel."
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The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
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You shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel."
And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
And you shall take the Levites for me—I Yahweh—instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the animal of the Levites instead of every firstborn among the animal of the sons of Israel.”
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.
You shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel."
You are to take the Levites for Me—I am the LORD—in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.”
You are to take the Levites for Me—I am the LORD—in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.”
And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am Jehovah) instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel:
And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
And thou shalt take ye Leuites to me for all the first borne of the children of Israel (I am the Lord) and the cattell of the Leuites for all the first borne of the cattell of the children of Israel.
And thou shalt take the Levites to me for all the firstborn of the children of Israel, I am the Lord: and their cattle for all the firstborn of the cattle of the children of Israel:
and thou hast taken the Levites for Me (I `am' Jehovah), instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of every firstling among the cattle of the sons of Israel.'
and you have taken the Levites for Me (I [am] YHWH), instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of every firstling among the livestock of the sons of Israel.”
You must take the Levites for me—I am Yahweh—instead of all the firstborn of the people of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of the firstborn of the livestock of the descendants of Israel.”
And you shall take the Levites for me—I Yahweh—instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the animal of the Levites instead of every firstborn among the animal of the sons of Israel.”
And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am Jehovah) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites, instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
You shall take the Levites for me—I am the LORD—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.”
And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites, instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.
Assign the Levites to me. I am the Lord. They are in place of all of the Israelites' firstborn children. The livestock of the Levites are in place of all the Israelites' firstborn livestock.”
And give to me the Levites (I am the Lord) in place of the first sons of the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of the first births among the cattle of the children of Israel.
And thou shalt take the Levites for Me, even the LORD, instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.'
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).
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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 →
Grammatical profile
Verb forms
Repetition
Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 39 words from the Hebrew and 39 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.
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 20 Hebrew tokens and 29 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.
Topical passages linked to Numbers 3:41 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
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.
וְלָקַחְתָּ֨ אֶת הַלְוִיִּ֥ם לִי֙ אֲנִ֣י יְהוָ֔ה תַּ֥חַת כָּל בְּכֹ֖ר בִּבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְאֵת֙ בֶּהֱמַ֣ת הַלְוִיִּ֔ם תַּ֣חַת כָּל בְּכ֔וֹר בְּבֶהֱמַ֖ת בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל
You shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel."
World English Bible · Public Domain
καί λαμβάνω ὁ λευίτης ἐγώ ἐγώ κύριος ἀντί πᾶς ὁ πρωτότοκος ὁ υἱός ἰσραήλ καί ὁ κτῆνος ὁ λευίτης ἀντί πᾶς ὁ πρωτότοκος ἐν ὁ κτῆνος ὁ υἱός ἰσραήλ
And you shall take the Levites for me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn of the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel.
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.
וּתְקָרֵב יָת לֵוָאֵי קֳדָמַי אֲנָא יְיָ חֲלַף כָּל בּוּכְרָא בִּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיָת בְּעִירָא דְלֵוָאֵי חֲלַף כָּל בּוּכְרָא בִּבְעִירָא דִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
(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.
וּתְקַרֵב יַת לֵיוָאֵי קֳדָמַי אֲנָא יְיָ חֲלַף כָּל בּוּכְרַיָא בִּבְנֵי יִשְרָאֵל וְיַת כָּל בְּעִירָא דְלֵיוָאֵי חֲלַף כָּל בּוּכְרָא בִּבְעִירָא דִבְנֵי יִשְרָאֵל
And bring near the Levites before me--I am the Lord--instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and all the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstling cattle of the children of Israel.
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 20 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is bᵉkôwr (“firstborn”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on Numbers 3:41 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 →
Joseph Benson's Commentary
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Geneva Bible translators
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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
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.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
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
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Daniel D. Whedon
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.