לֵוִיִּי

leviyi · Levite

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H3881 · appears 286 times in the Bible

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Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

leviyi (לֵוִיִּי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Levite”.

Of the tribe of Levi.

How to say it

le·vi·yi

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

Someone from the tribe of Levi, who served in the sanctuary.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Levite: a descendant of Levi, one of Jacob's sons.

A particular Levite Judges 17:7
The Levites, in place of the firstborn Numbers 3:12
“The priests, the Levites” Deuteronomy 17:9 Deuteronomy 18:1
The cities of the Levites Numbers 35:2

Historical and cultural background

According to Deuteronomy 18:1-2, the tribe of Levi received no portion or inheritance in the land: “YHWH is their inheritance”. Instead, Numbers 35:2 commands that they be given cities to dwell in.

How we translate it

“Levites” 255 times, “Levite” 26. It is the name of a group after its ancestor and is written in the usual English form.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

Levites ×255
Levite ×26
Levi ×3
Levitical ×2

Where it appears

Exodus 4:14
Then the anger of YHWH burned against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can surely speak. And look, he is also coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
Exodus 6:25
Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.
Exodus 38:21
These are the accounts of the dwelling, the dwelling of the testimony, which were recorded by order of Moses, the service of the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
Leviticus 25:32
As for the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have eternal redemption.
Leviticus 25:33
And what one of the Levites redeems, the sale of a house in the city of his possession, shall go free in the jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.
Numbers 1:47
But the Levites by the tribe of their fathers were not counted among them.
Numbers 1:50
But you appoint the Levites over the dwelling of the testimony, and over all its utensils, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the dwelling and all its utensils, and they shall minister to it, and around the dwelling they shall camp.
Numbers 1:51
When the dwelling sets out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the dwelling camps, the Levites shall set it up. And the stranger who comes near shall be put to death.
Numbers 1:53
But the Levites shall camp around the dwelling of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the community of the sons of Israel; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the dwelling of the testimony.”
Numbers 2:17
Then the tent of meeting, the camp of the Levites, shall set out in the middle of the camps; as they camp, so they shall set out, each man in his place, by their banners.
Numbers 2:33
But the Levites were not counted among the sons of Israel, as YHWH had commanded Moses.
Numbers 3:9
And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are given, wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.
Numbers 3:12
“And I, look, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel in place of every firstborn, the first to open the womb among the sons of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine.
Numbers 3:20
And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their fathers’ houses.
Numbers 3:32
And the chief of the chiefs of the Levites is Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, with oversight of those who keep the charge of the Holy Place.
Numbers 3:39
All those counted of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the command of YHWH, by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.
Numbers 3:41
And you shall take the Levites for me —I am YHWH— in place of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of every firstborn among the livestock of the sons of Israel.”
Numbers 3:45
“Take the Levites in place of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am YHWH.
Numbers 3:46
And as the ransom for the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess of the Levites,
Numbers 3:49
So Moses took the ransom silver from those in excess beyond those ransomed by the Levites.
Numbers 4:18
“Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites.
Numbers 4:46
All those counted whom Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel counted, the Levites, by their families and by their fathers’ houses,
Numbers 7:5
“Take them from them, and they shall be used to do the service of the tent of meeting, and give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service.”
Numbers 7:6
So Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.
Numbers 8:6
“Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and cleanse them.
Numbers 8:9
And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole community of the sons of Israel.
Numbers 8:10
And you shall bring the Levites before YHWH, and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.
Numbers 8:11
And Aaron shall wave the Levites as a wave offering before YHWH from the sons of Israel, and they shall be for doing the service of YHWH.
Numbers 8:12
And the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to YHWH, to make expiation for the Levites.
Numbers 8:13
And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and wave them as a wave offering to YHWH.
Numbers 8:14
Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
Numbers 8:15
And after that the Levites shall go in to serve the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and waved them as a wave offering.
Numbers 8:18
And I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.
Numbers 8:19
And I have given the Levites as given ones to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to do the service of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make expiation for the sons of Israel, so that there may be no plague among the sons of Israel when the sons of Israel come near to the Holy Place.”
Numbers 8:20
And Moses and Aaron and the whole community of the sons of Israel did to the Levites according to all that YHWH had commanded Moses concerning the Levites; so the sons of Israel did to them.
Numbers 8:21
And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron waved them as a wave offering before YHWH, and Aaron made expiation for them to cleanse them.
Numbers 8:22
And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; as YHWH had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
Numbers 8:24
“This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward one shall enter to serve in the ranks in the service of the tent of meeting.
Numbers 8:26
He may minister to his brothers in the tent of meeting in keeping the charge, but he shall do no service. Thus you shall do for the Levites regarding their charges.”
Numbers 18:6
And I, look, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel; to you they are a gift, given to YHWH, to do the service of the tent of meeting.

And 246 more times.