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לֵוִי

Levite

BDB lists 2 entries for ‘Levite’ fuller range ↓

H3881 Strong's Hebrew
Lêvîyîy Transliteration
/lay-vee-ee'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 286 appearances

Compare with another word →

About this entry

At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.

לויי — transliterated Lêvîyîy — is a Hebrew name carrying the sense “Levite.” Its earliest occurrence is Exodus 4:14. Spanning 258 verses in 16 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
Leviite
Modern gloss
Levite
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H3881 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.

These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →

258
distinct verses
The word appears in 258 distinct verses.
16 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 16 of 39 Old Testament books.
Exodus 4:14
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Exodus 4:14.
Ezekiel 48:22
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Ezekiel 48:22.
#174
by frequency
Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 174 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 258 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 72 · 28%
  • Historical 174 · 67%
  • Wisdom 0 · 0%
  • Prophets 12 · 5%

By traditional corpus

Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 258 distinct verses.

  • Writings (Ketuvim) 147 verses · 57%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 72 verses · 28%
  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 39 verses · 15%

How translations render this word

Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).

BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.

  • King James Version: Levites 231×, Levite 22×, All the levites 4×
  • American Standard Version: Levites 214×, Levite 23×, ' houses of the levites 5×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Levites 208×, Levite 33×, Levitical 14×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Levites 242×, Levite 28×, Levites were 3×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H3881 across 286 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Levites” 231×
  • “Levite” 22×
  • “All the levites” 4×
  • “Therefore the levites” 3×
  • “Concerning the levites” 2×
  • “One of the levites” 2×

Plus 22 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H3881 across 285 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Levites” 214×
  • “Levite” 23×
  • “' houses of the levites” 5×
  • “All the levites” 3×
  • “Levi” 2×
  • “Levites shall be mine” 2×
  • “One of the levites” 2×
  • “Themselves” 2×

Plus 32 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

Berean Standard Bible Public Domain

Renders H3881 across 281 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Levites” 208×
  • “Levite” 33×
  • “Levitical” 14×
  • “Levi” 7×
  • “Levites however” 2×

Plus 17 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 10 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H3881 across 286 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Levites” 242×
  • “Levite” 28×
  • “Levites were” 3×
  • “And” 2×
  • “Levi” 2×
  • “Levitical” 2×

Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


15 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol Meaning
𝔊 the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙 the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖 the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗 the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ the Psalms
√ root (the underlying root or stem)
‖ parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
† the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 15 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

לויי I m. Levi (√ and meaning dubious

  • 1.
    • a. Levi, son of Jacob and Leah, as individual, Gn 29:34; 34:25, 30; 35:23; 49:5 (all J); 35:23; 46:11; Ex 1:2; 6:16(×2) Nu 3:17; 16:1 (all P); 1 Ch 2:1; 5:22; 6:1, 4, 23, 28, 32; 23:6 Ezr 8:18; so בַּת־ל׳ [אֶת־] Ex 2:1 (E), Nu 26:59 (P). e.g. Genesis 29:34
    • b. as head of a family of descendants, in phr. בֵּית לֵוִי Ex 2:1 (E), and (with ref. to tribe; late) Nu 17:23, מִשְׁפַּחַת בֵּית ל׳ Zc 12:13. e.g. Exodus 2:1
    • c. often בְּנֵי(־)ל׳ Ex 32:26, 28 (E), Jos 21:10 (P), בְּנֵי(־)ל׳ with tribal ref. Nu 3:15; 4:2; 18:21 (charged with service of tabern., and hence to receive tithes; all P); as priests הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי לֵוִי Dt 21:5; 31:9, cf. Mal 3:3, and לֹא הָיוּ מִבְּנֵי ל׳ 1 K 12:31; from the בְּנֵי ל׳ the Zadokites are selected as priests Ez 40:46; according to 1 Ch 9:18 23:24, 27 בְּנֵי ל׳ are subordinate officials in temple (cf. v 28 f.), cf. 24:20; sharply disting. from priests Ezr 8:15, Ne 12:23 (cf. v 22); so also in later stratum of story of Korah’s revolt Nu 16:7, 8, 10 (P2). e.g. Exodus 32:26
  • 2. as name of tribe, שֵׁבֶט ל׳ Dt 18:1 (priestly tribe), מַטֵּה ל׳ Nu 1:49 (in charge of tabern.), 3:6; 18:2 (ministers unto Aaron); לֵוִי alone = (tribe of) Levi Dt 27:12; 33:8 (earlier poem), Nu 26:58 (P), Ez 48:31; Mal 2:4 (priestly tribe, cf. v 1), 1 Ch 21:6; 27:17; מַטֵּה ל׳ = rod of (the tribe of) Levi Nu 17:18 (P); also (no inheritance, because charged with service of tabernacle) Dt 10:9. e.g. Deuteronomy 18:1

לויי II Levite

  • 1. sg. of individual, אִישׁ ל׳ Ju 19:1 a certain Levite; pred. וְהוּא ל׳ Ju 17:1 and he was a Levite, so v 9; c. art. הַלּ׳ as subst. the Levite Ex 4:14 (J), Ju 17:10, 11, 12, 13 (as priest), Dt 18:6; 2 Ch 20:14; 31:12, 14, Ezr 10:15; הַנַּעַר הַלּ׳ Ju 18:3, 15; הָאִישׁ הַלּ׳ 20:4. e.g. Judges 19:1
  • 2. c. art. הַלֵּוִי as subst. coll. the Levites: Ex 6:19; Nu 3:20, 32; 26:57 (all P); 18:23 (P; charged with service of tabern.); especially D, Dt 12:12, 18, 19; 14:27, 29; 16:1, 14; 26:10, 12, 13; also 1 Ch 24:6; Mal 2:8 (as priestly tribe), שֵׁבֶט הַלּ׳ Dt 10:8 tribe of the Levites (set apart for service), cf. Jos 13:14, 33; 1 Ch 23:14; בְּנֵי־הַלֵּוִי 1 Ch 12:27 (van d. H. v 26) sons of the Levites (i.e. of the tribe); so Ne 10:40 (as tithe-collectors); בֵּית הַלֵּוִי ψ 135:20 house (family, tribe) of the Levites e.g. Exodus 6:19
  • 3. pl. לְוִיִּם chiefly Chr and P;—always c. art. הַֽלְוִיִּם except sf. לְוִיֵּנוּ Ne 10:1; the art. is om. by 𝔊𝔙 and most in Is 66:21; always = subst. Levites;— e.g. Nehemiah 10:1
    • A.
      • a. earlier usage:—as bearing the ark 1 S 6:15; 2 S 15:24; Dt 31:25, so (with priests) 1 K 8:4 = 2 Ch 5:5 (ℌ הכהנים הַל׳; read prob. וְהַל׳ as in K, 𝔊𝔖𝔙 cf. Öt VB); also 1 Ch 15:2, 26, 27; 23:26; 2 Ch 5:4 (for הכהנים ‖ 1 K 8:3). e.g. 1 Samuel 6:15
      • b. not disting. from priests by D: הַכֹּהֲנִים הַל׳ Dt 17:9, 18; 18:1; 24:8; 27:9, Jos 3:3; 8:33 (both D; as bearing ark), also Je 33:18, 21 (הַל׳ הַכּ׳), Ez 43:19; 44:15; cf. Dt 18:7; 27:14 Je 33:22; הַכּ׳ הַל׳ likewise 2 Ch 23:18; 30:27 (but read prob. וְהַל׳ after 𝔊𝔖𝔙, cf. Öt and infr.) e.g. Deuteronomy 17:9
      • c. as tribal designation, Ex 6:25; Nu 3:39; 4:18, 46; Jos 21:1 (all P), 1 Ch 9:33, 34; 15:12; 2 Ch 35:5; Ne 11:15, 16; 12:24; with ref. to share in land Lv 25:32(×2), 33(×2) (H), Nu 1:47; 2:33; Jos 14:3, 4; 21:3, 4, 8, 20, 27, 34, 38, 39 (all P), 18:7 (D), 1 Ch 6:49; cf. also 2 Ch 11:14†. e.g. Exodus 6:25
      • d. set apart for service in tabern., Ex 38:21; Nu 1:50, 51(×2), 53(×2); 2:17; 7:5, 6; 8:6 + 18 times Nu 8 (all P), cf. 1 Ch 6:33; 16:4; ministers to Aaron and his sons Nu 3:9; 8:19; 18:6 (P); set apart for י׳ (as redemption for first-born) Nu 3:12(×2) + 7 times Nu 3 (P); with certain perquisites Nu 18:24, 26, 30 + 9 times Nu (P). e.g. Exodus 38:21
    • B. in Chr. the tribal idea is in the background, and thought of Levites as official class is prominent:
      • a. disting. from priests הַכּ׳ וְהַל׳ 1 Ch 9:14 (cf. v 10), 13:2; 15:4, 11, 14; 23:2; 24:6, 31 + 67 times Chr.; also Is 66:21 (according to Vrss., but dub.), Ez 44:10; 45:5 (cf. v 4), 48:11, 12, 13, 22. e.g. 1 Chronicles 9:14
      • b. as porters, 1 Ch 9:26; 26:17, cf. 34:9; as in charge of music, 1 Ch 15:16, 17, 22 2 Ch 5:12; 29:25, 30; 34:12 Ne 12:27; yet disting. from porters and singers, Ne 7:1; 13:5, 10; disting. also from נְתִינִים 1 Ch 9:2; Ezr 8:20; Ne 10:29; further (with various official functions) 1 Ch 9:31 + 29 times Chr.; of groups of individuals, 2 Ch 17:8(×2); 29:12; 34:12 Ezr 2:40 = Ne 7:43, Ezr 8:33; Ne 3:17; 9:5; 10:10; 12:8, also 8:7 (om. וְ; 𝔙 BeRy Ryle). e.g. 1 Chronicles 9:26
      • c. בְּנֵי־הַלְוִיִּם 1 Ch 15:15 (bearing ark), 24:30 (tribal designation).—See, on Levites, especially GfGesch. d. Stammes Levi in MeArchiv i. 68 ff. 208 ff. WeProl. Cap. iv RSOTJC. 435 f., 2nd ed., 360 f. BauPriesterthum 50 f., 68 f., and often e.g. 1 Chronicles 15:15

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.


Word origin

I. n.pr.m. Levi (√ and meaning dubious; Gn 29:34 (J) interpr. as joined, i.e. husband to wife; Nu 18:2, 4 (P; appar. in word-play) of Levites as joined to, attendant upon, Aaron; orig. as attached to, accompanying Isr. from Egypt, LagOr ii. 20 f.; as attached to, attending upon the ark, BauPriest. 74; in this case i. לֵוִי would be derived from ii. לֵוִי in priestly sense; HomA. u. A. 1890, 30 f. proposes Minaean לוא, lauʾân, priest, cf. Id.Süd-Arabic Chrest. 127; ag. all such views v. KauSK 1890, 771 f.; WeProl. ed. 5, 141; Hist. Isr. 145 StaZAW i (1881), 112 ff. GrayProp. Names, p. 96, cf. NöZMG xl (1886), 167, make לֵוִי n. gent. from לֵאָה (q.v.); cf. a further sugg. WeSkizzen iii. 114)—𝔊 Λευ(ε)ι(ν);—

II. adj.gent. Levite;—לֵוִי, 40 times; pl. לְוִיִּם 250 times; sf. 1 pl. לְוִיֵּנוּ Ne 10:1;—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from לוי (Lêvîy) (H3878) — Levi.

Part of speech: Adjective


Forms in the corpus

The 77 distinct written forms H3881 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.

Form Parsing Example Uses
הַ/לְוִיִּ֔ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 17:9 37
הַ/לְוִיִּ֖ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 6:25 17
הַ/לְוִיִּ֑ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 2:40 16
הַ/לְוִיִּֽם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 17:18 16
הַ/לְוִיִּ֗ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 27:14 15
הַ/לְוִיִּם֙ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 48:22 11
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֔ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 8:30 11
לַ/לְוִיִּ֔ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 23:6 9
הַ/לְוִיִּ֜ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 18:1 8
הַ/לֵּוִ֖י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezra 10:15 7
לַ/לְוִיִּ֑ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 6:64 7
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֞ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Samuel 6:15 6
הַ/לְוִיִּ֣ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 26:17 5
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֑ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 1:5 5
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֖ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 13:2 5
הַ/לֵּוִ֔י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 4:14 4
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּֽם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 23:2 4
לַ/לְוִיִּֽם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 35:5 4
הַ/לְוִיִּ֥ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Jeremiah 33:21 3
הַ/לְוִיִּם֒ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 15:16 3
הַ/לְוִיִּם֩ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 34:9 3
הַ֠/לְוִיִּם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 29:12 3
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֗ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 48:13 3
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֛ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 6:20 3
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֣ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 5:12 3
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֤ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 3:10 3
וְ/הַ֨/לְוִיִּ֔ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 31:17 3
וְ/לַ/לְוִיִּ֑ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 24:6 3
לַ/לְוִיִּ֖ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Isaiah 66:21 3
לַ/לְוִיִּ֗ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Nehemiah 13:22 3
לַ/לְוִיִּ֛ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 9:33 3
לֵוִ֗י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Judges 19:1 2
הַ/לְוִיִּ֛ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 24:8 2
הַ/לְוִיִּ֡ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 43:19 2
הַ/לְוִיִּם֮ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 23:18 2
הַ/לֵּוִ֑י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 12:19 2
הַ/לֵּוִ֗י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 24:6 2
הַ/לֵּוִ֜י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 18:6 2
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּם֙ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 35:14 2
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּם֩ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 3:12 2
וְ/הַ/לֵּוִי֙ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 12:12 2
וְ/לַ/לְוִיִּ֔ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 23:4 2
וְ/לַ/לְוִיִּ֖ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 35:8 2
וְ֠/הַ/לְוִיִּם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 2:70 2
וְֽ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֑ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 26:20 2
בַּ/לְוִיִּֽם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 31:19 1
הַ/לְוִיִּ֤ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Numbers 8:11 1
הַ/לְוִיִּ֧ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 30:21 1
הַ/לְוִיִּ֨ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 23:7 1
הַ/לֵּוִ֡י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 14:29 1
הַ/לֵּוִֽי Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Judges 17:10 1
הַ/לֵּוִי֙ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Chronicles 31:14 1
הַ/לֵּוִי֮ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Numbers 26:57 1
הַֽ/לְוִיִּֽם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 24:5 1
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֜ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 7:7 1
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֡ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Nehemiah 7:73 1
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּ֥ם Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 35:10 1
וְ/הַ/לְוִיִּם֒ Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 24:5 1
וְ/הַ/לֵּוִ֔י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 26:11 1
וְ/הַ/לֵּוִ֖י Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 12:18 1

The 60 most common forms are shown; 17 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.


Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3881, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.

Derives from

Proper names from this root

People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.

Compare all same-root words → 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Bible dictionary

Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Levite). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.

Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897

A descendant of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 6:25; Lev. 25:32; Num. 35:2; Josh. 21:3, 41). This name is, however, generally used as the title of that portion of the tribe which was set apart for the subordinate offices of the sanctuary service (1 Kings 8:4; Ezra 2:70), as assistants to the priests.

When the Israelites left Egypt, the ancient manner of worship was still observed by them, the eldest son of each house inheriting the priest's office. At Sinai the first change in this ancient practice was made. A hereditary priesthood in the family of Aaron was then instituted (Ex. 28:1). But it was not till that terrible scene in connection with the sin of the golden calf that the tribe of Levi stood apart and began to occupy a distinct position (Ex. 32). The religious primogeniture was then conferred on this tribe, which henceforth was devoted to the service of the sanctuary (Num. 3:11-13). They were selected for this purpose because of their zeal for the glory of God (Ex. 32:26), and because, as the tribe to which Moses and Aaron belonged, they would naturally stand by the lawgiver in his work.

The Levitical order consisted of all the descendants of Levi's three sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; whilst Aaron, Amram's son (Amram, son of Kohat), and his issue constituted the priestly order.

The age and qualification for Levitical service are specified in Num. 4:3, 23, 30, 39, 43, 47.

They were not included among the armies of Israel (Num. 1:47; 2:33; 26:62), but were reckoned by themselves. They were the special guardians of the tabernacle (Num. 1:51; 18:22-24). The Gershonites pitched their tents on the west of the tabernacle (3:23), the Kohathites on the south (3:29), the Merarites on the north (3:35), and the priests on the east (3:38). It was their duty to move the tent and carry the parts of the sacred structure from place to place. They were given to Aaron and his sons the priests to wait upon them and do work for them at the sanctuary services (Num. 8:19; 18:2-6).

As being wholly consecrated to the service of the Lord, they had no territorial possessions. Jehovah was their inheritance (Num. 18:20; 26:62; Deut. 10:9; 18:1, 2), and for their support it was ordained that they should receive from the other tribes the tithes of the produce of the land. Forty-eight cities also were assigned to them, thirteen of which were for the priests "to dwell in", i.e., along with their other inhabitants. Along with their dwellings they had "suburbs", i.e., "commons", for their herds and flocks, and also fields and vineyards (Num. 35:2-5). Nine of these cities were in Judah, three in Naphtali, and four in each of the other tribes (Josh. 21). Six of the Levitical cities were set apart as "cities of refuge" (q.v.). Thus the Levites were scattered among the tribes to keep alive among them the knowledge and service of God. (See PRIEST.)

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Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 220 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 258 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

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