Person

Levi

לֵוִי

Joined.

Levi is Jacob’s third son by Leah. His descendants are the Levites, set apart for tabernacle and temple service. Aaron’s house holds the priesthood. John the Baptist’s parents stand in that priestly stream: Elizabeth is of the daughters of Aaron.

Strong’s

Strong’s dictionaries compiled by Open Scriptures, used under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

לֵוִי H3878

Lêvîy · lay-vee'

Levi, a son of Jacob

from H3867 (לָוָה); attached;

KJV glosses: Levi. See also H3879 (לֵוִי), H3881 (לֵוִיִּי).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906). Public-domain digital text.

לֵוִי H3878

Biblical Hebrew

I. לֵוִי proper name, masculine Levi (√ and meaning dubious; Gen 29:34 (J) interpreted as joined, i. e. husband to wife; Num 18:2; Num 18:4 (P; apparently in word-play) of Levites as joined to, attendant upon, Aaron; originally as attached to, accompanying Israel 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, lau'ân, priest, compare IdSüd-Arab. Chrest. 127; against all such views see KauSK 1890, 771 f. WeProl. ed. 5, 141; Hist. Israel 145 StaZAW i (1881), 112 ff. GrayProp. Names, p. 96, compare NöZMG xi (1886). 167, make לֵוִי name, of a people from לֵאָה (q. v.); compare a further suggestion WeSkizzen iii. 114) — ᵐ5 Λευ(ε)ι(ν); — 1. a. Levi, son of Jacob and Leah, as individual, Gen 29:34; Gen 34:25; Gen 34:30; Gen 35:23; Gen 49:5 (all J); Gen 35:23; Gen 46:11; Exod 1:2; Exod 6:16; Exod 16:16; Num 3:17; Num 16:1 (all P); 1Chr 21; 1Chr 5:22; 1Chr 6:1; 1Chr 6:4; 1Chr 6:23; 1Chr 6:28; 1Chr 6:32; 1Chr 23:6; so ׳בַּתלֿ [אֶתֿ] Exod 2:1 (E), Num 26:59 (P).

b. as head of a family of descendants, in phrase בֵּית לֵוִי Exod 2:1 (E), and (with reference to tribe; late) Num 17:23, ׳מִשְׁפַּחַת בֵּית ל Zech 12:13.

c. often ׳בְּנֵי(ֿ) ל Exod 32:26; Exod 32:28 (E), Josh 21:10 (P), ׳בְּנֵי(ֿ) ל with tribal reference Num 3:15; Num 4:2; Num 18:21 (charged with service of tabernacle, and hence to receive tithes; all P); as priests הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי לֵוִי Deut 21:5; Deut 31:9, compare Mal 3:3, and ׳לֹא הָיוּ מִבְּנֵי ל 1Kgs 12:31 from the ׳בְּנֵי ל the Zadokites are selected as priests Ezek 40:46 according to 1Chr 9:18; 1Chr 23:24; 1Chr 23:27 ׳בְּנֵי ל are subordinate officials in temple (compare v1Chr 23:28f.), compare 1Chr 24:20 sharply distinguished from priests Ezra 8:15; Neh 12:23 (compare vNeh 12:22); so also in later stratum of story of Korah's revolt Num 16:7; Num 16:8; Num 16:10 (P2).

2. as name of tribe, ׳שֵׁבֶט ל Deut 18:1 (priestly tribe), ׳מַטֵּה ל Num 1:49 (in charge of tabernacle), Num 3:6; Num 18:2 (ministers unto Aaron); לֵוִי alone = (tribe of) Levi Deut 27:12; Deut 33:8 (earlier poem), Num 26:58 (P), Ezek 48:31; Mal 2:4 (priestly tribe, compare vMal 2:1), 1Chr 21:6; 1Chr 27:17 ׳מַטֵּה ל =rod of (the tribe of) Levi Num 17:18 (P); also (no inheritance, because charged with service of tabernacle) Deut 10:9.

לֵוָי H3878 · H3879

Biblical Aramaic

[לֵוָי] name, of a people Levite (Biblical Hebrew לִוֵי); — plural emphatic לויא Kt, לְוָאֵי Qr (K§§ 61, 6); 52. d), Ezra 6:16; Ezra 6:18; Ezra 7:13; Ezra 7:24 (all + priests).