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Bible Lexicons
Old Testament Hebrew Lexical Dictionary Hebrew Lexicon
Strong's #3878 - לֵוִי
- Brown-Driver-Briggs
- Strong
Levi = “joined to”
1) the 3rd son of Jacob by Leah and progenitor of tribe of Levites
- Book
- Word
I.לֵוִי would be derived from
II.לֵוִי in priestly sense; Hom A. u. A. 1890,30f. proposes Minaean לוא, lau'ân, priest, compare Id Süd-Arab. Chrest. 127; against all such views see Kau SK 1890,771f. We Prol. ed. 5,141; Hist. Israel 145 Sta ZAW i (1881), 112ff. Gray Prop. Names, p. 96, compare Nö ZMG xi (1886). 167, make לֵוִי name, of a people from לֵאָה (q. v.); compare a further suggestion We Skizzen iii. 114) — ᵐ5 Λευ(ε)ι(ν); —
1. a. Levi, son of Jacob and Leah, as individual, Genesis 29:34; Genesis 34:25,30; Genesis 35:23; Genesis 49:5 (all J); Genesis 35:23; Genesis 46:11; Exodus 1:2; Exodus 6:16; Exodus 16:16; Numbers 3:17; Numbers 16:1 (all P); 1 Chronicles 21; 1 Chronicles 5:22; 1 Chronicles 6:1; 1 Chronicles 6:4; 1 Chronicles 6:23; 1 Chronicles 6:28; 1 Chronicles 6:32; 1 Chronicles 23:6; Ezra 8:18; so ׳בַּתלֿ [אֶתֿ] Exodus 2:1 (E), Numbers 26:59 (P).
b. as head of a family of descendants, in phraseבֵּית לֵוִי Exodus 2:1 (E), and (with reference to tribe; late) Numbers 17:23, ׳מִשְׁמַּחַת בֵּית ל Zechariah 12:13.
c. often ׳בְּנֵי(ֿ) ל Exodus 32:26,28 (E), Joshua 21:10 (P), ׳בְּנֵי(ֿ) ל with tribal reference Numbers 3:15; Numbers 4:2; Numbers 18:21 (charged with service of tabernacle, and hence to receive tithes; all P); as priests הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי לֵוִי Deuteronomy 21:5; Deuteronomy 31:9, compare Malachi 3:3, and ׳לֹא הָיוּ מִבְּנֵי ל 1 Kings 12:31; from the ׳בְּנֵי ל the Zadokites are selected as priests Ezekiel 40:46; according to 1 Chronicles 9:18; 1 Chronicles 23:24,27 ׳בְּנֵי ל are subordinate officials in temple (compare 1 Chronicles 23:28f.), compare 1 Chronicles 24:20; sharply distinguished from priests Ezra 8:15; Nehemiah 12:23 (compare Nehemiah 12:22); so also in later stratum of story of Korah's revolt Numbers 16:7,8,10 (P2).
2 as name of tribe, ׳שֵׁבֶט ל Deuteronomy 18:1 (priestly tribe), ׳מַטֵּה ל Numbers 1:49 (in charge of tabernacle), Numbers 3:6; Numbers 18:2 (ministers unto Aaron); לֵוִי alone = (tribe of) Levi Deuteronomy 27:12; Deuteronomy 33:8 (earlier poem), Numbers 26:58 (P), Ezekiel 48:31; Malachi 2:4 (priestly tribe, compare Malachi 2:1), 1 Chronicles 21:6; 1 Chronicles 27:17; ׳מַטֵּה ל = rod of (the tribe of) Levi Numbers 17:18 (P); also (no inheritance, because charged with service of tabernacle) Deuteronomy 10:9.
[לֵוָי] name, of a people Levite (Biblical Hebrew לִוֵי); — plural emphatic לויא Kt, לְוָאֵי Qr (K§§ 61,6); 52. d), Ezra 6:16,18; Ezra 7:13,24 (all + priests).
לֵוִי (“adhesion,” or “garland,” “crown,” i.q. לִוְיָה from the root לָוָה) m.
(1) pr.n. Levi, the third son of Jacob by Leah, Genesis 29:34, 34:25 35:23 the ancestor of the tribe of Levi (בְּנֵי לֵוִי), which was set apart for the service of the sanctuary, and of which was the family of Aaron (בֵּית אַהֲרוֹן), to whom the priesthood was appropriated.
(2) patron. name for לְוִיִּי a Levite, Deuteronomy 12:18; Judges 17:9, 11 Judges 17:11, 18:3 Plur. לְוִיֵּים Joshua 21:1, sq.
