Midvash

לֵוִיִּיLêvîyîy

Levite

Pronunciation: lay-vee-ee' · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H3881

Meanings

1. singular of individual (Judges 19:1; Judges 17:1; Judges 17:9)

2. the Levites, with article הַלֵּוִי as substantive collective (Exodus 6:19; Numbers 3:20; Numbers 3:32)

3. always = substantive Levites (Nehemiah 10:1; Isaiah 66:21)

1.

a. earlier usage (1 Samuel 6:15; 2 Samuel 15:24; Deuteronomy 31:25)

b. not distinguished from priests (Deuteronomy 17:9; Deuteronomy 17:18; Deuteronomy 18:1)

c. as tribal designation (Exodus 6:25; Numbers 3:39; Numbers 4:18)

d. set apart for service in tabernacle (Exodus 38:21; Numbers 1:50; Numbers 1:51)

2. in Chronicles the tribal idea is in the background, and thought of Levites as official class is prominent

a. distinguished from priests (1 Chronicles 9:14; 1 Chronicles 9:10; 1 Chronicles 13:2)

b. as porters (1 Chronicles 9:26; 1 Chronicles 26:17; 1 Chronicles 34:9)

c. (bearing ark), (tribal designation) (1 Chronicles 15:15; 1 Chronicles 24:30)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 291 times in the Bible.

  • Exodus 4:14 Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you.
  • Exodus 6:16 These are the descendants of Levi, as listed in their family records: The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (Levi lived to be 137 years old.)
  • Exodus 6:25 Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she gave birth to his son, Phinehas. These are the ancestors of the Levite families, listed according to their clans.
  • Exodus 38:21 This is an inventory of the materials used in building the Tabernacle of the Covenant. The Levites compiled the figures, as Moses directed, and Ithamar son of Aaron the priest served as recorder.
  • Leviticus 25:32 “The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them.
  • Leviticus 25:33 And any property that is sold by the Levites—all houses within the Levitical towns—must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel.
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).