The Fallible Study Bible

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1 Chronicles6:1–3

The Descendants of Levi

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

1 Chronicles 6:1–3 — The Descendants of Levi. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê lê·wî gê·rə·šō·wn qə·hāṯ ū·mə·rā·rî

Word by word5 · parsed
בְּנֵ֖יbə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son, as a builder of the family name Strong's H1121 covers the widest sense: literal son, grandson, subject, nation, even quality or condition. The same construct plural will skip a generation in verse 2 and, in verse 3, gather a daughter inside a masculine plural. The chronicler is not listing a household; he is building a line, and the lexicon's own gloss (a builder of the family name) names the work this repeated word does.
לֵוִ֑יlê·wîof LeviH3878
√ Lêvîy — Levi, a son of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
Lêvîy: Levi, a son of Jacob The tribe's founder stands as the root of the entire chapter. Gill sets the moment in its canonical frame: the kingdom given to Judah, the birthright to Joseph, the priesthood to Levi. Nothing in this register is about land or throne; it is about who may stand at an altar.
גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹןgê·rə·šō·wnGershonH1648
√ Gêrᵉshôwn — Gereshon or Gereshom, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Gêrᵉshôwn: Gereshon or Gereshom The firstborn of Levi, named first and then set aside at once: the priesthood did not run through him, and the chapter is ordering by office rather than by birth. Ellicott and Cambridge both anchor the spelling here to Genesis 46:11 and Exodus 6:16, while Ellicott notes that at 1 Chronicles 6:16 the same man is Gershom. His house reappears only in the service lists of 1 Chronicles 6:16-48, which JFB titles the families of Gershom, Merari and Kohath: Levites who serve, over against the sons of Aaron who offer.
קְהָ֖תqə·hāṯKohathH6955
√ Qᵉhâth — Kehath, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Qᵉhâth: Kehath, an Israelite Second in birth order and first in weight. Ellicott calls Kohath the chief house of Levi and suggests the name may stand second for euphonic reasons, comparing the fixed order Shem, Ham and Japheth. Verses 2 and 3 narrow into this single name, and from it the whole high-priestly line descends.
וּמְרָרִֽי׃ū·mə·rā·rîand MerariH4847
√ Mᵉrârîy — Merari, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Mᵉrârîy: Merari, an Israelite The third branch, bound to the list by the waw. JFB sets him with Gershom and Kohath in the service registers of 1 Chronicles 6:16-48; here he is named only to complete the three.
2

The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê qə·hāṯ ‘am·rām yiṣ·hār wə·ḥeḇ·rō·wn wə·‘uz·zî·’êl

Word by word6 · parsed
וּבְנֵ֖יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son, in the widest sense The waw on the construct plural makes this verse a continuation, not a new start. K&D describe the narrowing exactly: of Levi's grandchildren only the four sons of Kohath are noticed, and of these only Amram's descendants are named. The word repeats while the field of view contracts.
קְהָ֑תqə·hāṯof KohathH6955
√ Qᵉhâth — Kehath, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Qᵉhâth: Kehath, an Israelite Of Levi's three sons this one alone is opened out, because the priesthood ran through him. Pulpit gathers the Kohathites at their sacred duties under David (1 Chronicles 15:5-8) and under Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:12-14), so the house named here is still serving centuries later.
עַמְרָ֣ם‘am·rāmAmramH6019
√ ʻAmrâm — Amram, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
ʻAmrâm: ʻAmram The eldest of the four and the only one the chronicler follows. Pulpit puts it plainly: the four sons are instanced in order to get another step nearer the beginning of the priest line, and that step is taken in Amram.
יִצְהָ֔רyiṣ·hārIzharH3324
√ Yitshâr — Jitshar, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Yitshâr: Jitshar, an Israelite The rarest lexeme in this unit: the Verifier finds H3324 in only nine verses in the whole canon, which is why the links to Exodus 6:18 and Numbers 16:1 are firm rather than coincidental. Numbers 16:1, which shares both H6955 and H3324 with this verse, names Korah as the son of Izhar, son of Kohath. The same clan that carries the priesthood also produces the rebellion against it.
וְחֶבְר֖וֹןwə·ḥeḇ·rō·wnHebronH2275
√ Chebrôwn — Chebron, a place in Palestine, also the name of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Chebrôwn: Chebron, a place in Palestine, also the name of two Israelites One Strong's entry for a man and for a town at once, and the genealogy uses only the first sense. The Verifier finds the same four Kohathite names standing together again at 1 Chronicles 6:18, 1 Chronicles 23:12 and Numbers 3:19, so Hebron here is not an isolated individual but the head of a house that the registers keep re-enrolling for service.
וְעֻזִּיאֵֽל׃סwə·‘uz·zî·’êland UzzielH5816
√ ʻUzzîyʼêl — Uzziel, the name of six IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
ʻUzzîyʼêl: Uzziel, the name of six Israelites The fourth and last of Kohath's sons, closing the verse and, with the trailing section marker, closing the paragraph. Six men in Scripture carry the name, so the register depends on the line, not on the name, to identify him.
3

The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê ‘am·rām ’a·hă·rōn ū·mō·šeh ū·mir·yå̄·ms ū·ḇə·nê ’a·hă·rōn nā·ḏāḇ wa·’ă·ḇî·hū ’el·‘ā·zār wə·’î·ṯā·mār

Word by word11 · parsed
וּבְנֵ֣יū·ḇə·nêThe childrenH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition The breadth Strong's records is doing visible work here: one word covers Aaron, Moses and Miriam together. Ellicott restores the literal sense against the English (Heb., sons), and the restoration matters, because what looks like a soft word for family is in fact the technical term on which every priestly claim in this chapter rests.
עַמְרָ֔ם‘am·rāmof AmramH6019
√ ʻAmrâm — Amram, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
ʻAmrâm: ʻAmram The one branch of Kohath the chronicler follows further.
אַהֲרֹ֥ן’a·hă·rōnAaronH175
√ ʼAhărôwn — Aharon, the brother of MosesNounpropermasculine singular
ʼAhărôwn: Aharon, the brother of Moses Aaron stands first because this is a priestly register, not a chronological one. Cambridge notes the same order in Exodus 6:20 and adds from Exodus 7:7 that Aaron was in fact the elder, so the order is both true to age and true to office. Ellicott records the Arabic form Hârûn. The whole genealogy exists to reach this name and to pass through it.
וּמֹשֶׁ֖הū·mō·šehMosesH4872
√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Môsheh: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver The lawgiver enters this chapter as a son and leaves it immediately. Chronicles is tracing a priesthood, so the text follows Aaron's sons and says nothing further here of Moses' line. It is a striking omission to feel rather than to explain away: the greatest name in Israel's history appears in the register only as Amram's second child.
וּמִרְיָ֑םסū·mir·yå̄·msand MiriamH4813
√ Miryâm — Mirjam, the name of two IsraelitessesConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular
Miryâm: Mirjam The only feminine noun in the unit. Gill calls her a prophetess and points to Micah 6:4, where she is named with Moses and Aaron as those God sent before His people; Ellicott cites Numbers 26:59 and, for the title prophetess, Exodus 15:20. She leaves no descendants for the list to record, and the list keeps her anyway.
וּבְנֵ֣יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
bên: sons The register restarts inside the verse: from Amram's children down to Aaron's sons.
אַהֲרֹ֔ן’a·hă·rōnof AaronH175
√ ʼAhărôwn — Aharon, the brother of MosesNounpropermasculine singular
Aaron named a second time in four words, now as father rather than as son. The repetition is the hinge of the chapter.
נָדָב֙nā·ḏāḇNadabH5070
√ Nâdâb — Nadab, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Nâdâb: Nadab, the name of four Israelites The firstborn of the priestly house, and the first name here that the reader must complete from elsewhere. Ellicott quotes Numbers 26:61 and points to Leviticus 10:1-7; K&D say the same, that Nadab and Abihu were slain when they offered strange fire. Chronicles records none of it. The register lists him as an heir and leaves the fire to the books that tell it.
וַאֲבִיה֔וּאwa·’ă·ḇî·hūAbihuH30
√ ʼĂbîyhûwʼ — Abihu, a son of AaronConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
ʼĂbîyhûwʼ: Abihu, a son of Aaron Second of the four. Cambridge observes that these two elder sons perished childless, which is why the genealogy can name them and then move past them without a break: there is no line to follow. Two names at the head of the priestly house that go nowhere.
אֶלְעָזָ֖ר’el·‘ā·zārEleazarH499
√ ʼElʻâzâr — Elazar, the name of seven IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
ʼElʻâzâr: Elazar, the name of seven Israelites The hinge on which the rest of the chapter turns. K&D record that after Aaron's death Eleazar was chosen by God to succeed him, so the high-priestly dignity came into his line; Pulpit says he fixes the exact channel of descent required. Verses 4 to 15 all run through this one name.
וְאִיתָמָֽר׃סwə·’î·ṯā·mārand IthamarH385
√ ʼÎythâmâr — Ithamar, a son of AaronConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
ʼÎythâmâr: ʼIythamar, a son of Aaron Named, and then in this particular list left behind. Ellicott observes that the list before us appears to ignore the line of Ithamar, while 1 Chronicles 24:1-6 shows the chronicler knew perfectly well of princes of the sanctuary from the sons of Eleazar and of the sons of Ithamar alike. Selection here is deliberate, not ignorant.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A list with no verb — 6:1-2

Three verses, twenty-two words, and not one finite verb. בְּנֵי (bə·nê, H1121) opens without an article, and the waw at the head of verses 2 and 3 binds the whole into a single chain. Ellicott and Cambridge both anchor the names to Genesis 46:11 and Exodus 6:16, and Pulpit says the verse is in agreement with those enumerations; Gill supplies the reason the list exists at all, placing it after Judah and Joseph because the kingdom was given to Judah, the birthright to Joseph, and the priesthood to Levi. ⚙ The grammar is doing theology: a genealogy is not an argument to be followed but a title deed to be checked, and Hebrew writes it as a column, not a sentence. Henry states the practical stake directly, that the priests and Levites had to preserve their descent clear because the honours and privileges of their office depended on it.

ii. The funnel into Kohath — 6:1-3

K&D describe the shape better than any summary: the enumeration begins with the three sons of Levi, then of Levi's grandchildren only the four sons of Kohath are noticed, then of these only Amram's descendants are named, and then only Aaron's sons, so that the high-priestly line of Eleazar may follow. Ellicott calls Kohath the chief house of Levi and suspects the name stands second in the series for euphonic reasons; Pulpit, who prefers the pointing קְהָת (Kehath), says the second son is singled out at once in order to get at the priest line, and that Aaron is then singled out again so that Eleazar can fix the exact channel of descent. ⚙ Read from the outside in, the three verses are a narrowing aperture: tribe, house, family, man. Every name that is dropped is dropped on purpose.

iii. Four names, two silences — 6:3

Verse 3 gives seven names and explains none of them. Gill calls the first three very memorable persons and identifies them by office: Aaron the high priest, Moses the prophet and lawgiver, Miriam a prophetess, citing Micah 6:4. Then Aaron's four sons arrive in the order Exodus 6:23 and Numbers 26:60 already fixed, as Ellicott notes. K&D supply what the chronicler withholds, that Nadab and Abihu were slain when they offered strange fire before Jahve, so Aaron's race was continued only by Eleazar and Ithamar; Cambridge adds that these two elder sons perished childless. ⚙ The list's silence is not carelessness. It names the men through whom death entered the sanctuary and does not stop to mourn them, because the question it is answering is not what happened but who is left.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Fallible, and offered to be tested. This register is the Bible at its least quotable and, read honestly, at its most exposed. It makes a claim that can be checked and therefore broken: these men descend from this man. Everything the priesthood claimed, the right to burn incense, to enter the veil, to eat the holy things, rested on a line of names that a hostile scribe could have audited. Scripture does not protect that claim; it publishes it, spelling variations (Gershon, Gershom), omissions (Ithamar's line, and Eli's) and all. Cambridge is willing to say the list that follows these verses is not exhaustive, and Ellicott is willing to say some links in the chain may be wanting, and neither of them thinks this undoes the text. ⚙ Our reading: a selective register is not a false one, because its purpose was never census but legitimacy. And when the New Testament takes up this same line, it does not attack the register, it points past it, to a priest whose right to serve is not held by descent at all and therefore cannot be lost when the descent runs out. The line below is our own sentence, not Scripture.

A name kept in a list is a claim that can be checked, which is why God let His priesthood rest on one.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The list the chronicler copied: Exodus 6:16-18 verbal / quotation: confirmed

The four Kohathite names of verse 2 stand in Exodus 6:18 in the same order, and the three Levite names of verse 1 in Exodus 6:16. Ellicott says the names are the same as in Exodus 6:18; Cambridge's whole note on verse 2 is the reference; K&D say the three sons of Levi are given here as in Genesis 46:11 and Exodus 6:16, and in other passages. The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes, including יִצְהָר (Yitshâr, H3324), which occurs in only nine verses in the canon. ⚙ This is the nearest thing in the unit to a quotation: a register reproduced from an existing register, which is why the two agree even in sequence.

Exodus 6:16 · Exodus 6:18

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6955 Qᵉhâth (in 29 vv) and H3324 Yitshâr (in 9 vv, rare) with Exodus 6:18; the four names also stand in identical order, and Ellicott, Cambridge and K&D each record the agreement. Reproduction of a source list, not an independent witness.

The same family in the wilderness census: Numbers 26:58-60 structural / thematic: confirmed

Numbers 26 registers the Levite clans and then narrows exactly as this chapter does: Kohath, Amram, and the children Aaron, Moses and Miriam, followed by Aaron's four sons. Ellicott cites Numbers 26:59 for Miriam and Numbers 26:60 for the sons of Aaron, and Numbers 26:61 for the deaths of Nadab and Abihu. ⚙ The link is a shared register rather than a quotation: two lists of the same family drawn up for different purposes, one to number a people in the desert, one to certify a priesthood after an exile.

Numbers 26:58 · Numbers 26:59 · Numbers 26:60

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes with Numbers 26:59 (H3878 Lêvîy in 57 vv; H6019 ʻAmrâm in 12 vv; H4813 Miryâm in 13 vv) and with Numbers 26:58 (H6955 Qᵉhâth in 29 vv; H3878 Lêvîy). Real lexical overlap inside a parallel register, but the shared items are proper names of moderate frequency, so no quotation is claimed.

Izhar's other son: Korah at Numbers 16:1 structural / thematic: confirmed

Verse 2 names Izhar and passes on. Numbers 16:1, which the Verifier matches to this unit on both קְהָת (Qᵉhâth, H6955) and the rare יִצְהָר (Yitshâr, H3324, in nine verses), names Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, who rose against Moses and Aaron over the question of who may draw near. ⚙ Our reading: the same clan that supplies the high priest supplies the most famous challenge to him, and Chronicles, writing to certify the priesthood, records the name without the story. Tiered structural, not verbal: the rare lexeme is a genuine link, but nothing here is quoted.

Numbers 16:1

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6955 Qᵉhâth (in 29 vv) and H3324 Yitshâr (in 9 vv, rare) with Numbers 16:1. A rare shared lexeme, but no quotation and no citation formula, so the link is the shared Kohathite house rather than a verbal dependence.

Four sons across five registers: Exodus 28:1, Numbers 3:2-4, 1 Chronicles 24:1-2 structural / thematic: confirmed

Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar appear together, in this order, in Exodus 6:23, Exodus 28:1 (where they are set apart to serve as priests), Numbers 3:2-4 (where two of them are recorded as dead), Numbers 26:60 and 1 Chronicles 24:1-2 (where the survivors' houses are divided into courses). Ellicott appeals to 1 Chronicles 24:1-6 to prove the chronicler knew of high-priestly figures from both houses, and quotes the phrase princes of the sanctuary and princes of God from that passage. ⚙ The quartet functions as a fixed formula in Israel's priestly bookkeeping: the same four names, reused whenever the question is who may serve.

Exodus 28:1 · Numbers 3:2 · Numbers 3:4 · 1 Chronicles 24:1 · 1 Chronicles 24:2

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H5070 Nâdâb (in 20 vv), H30 ʼĂbîyhûwʼ (in 12 vv) and H385 ʼÎythâmâr (in 20 vv) with Numbers 3:2, Numbers 3:4, Exodus 28:1, Exodus 6:23, Numbers 26:60 and 1 Chronicles 24:1-2. Identical names in identical order across five registers; a shared formula, not a quotation of one text by another.

A priesthood certified by descent, and a Priest who is not structural / thematic: confirmed

This register exists to prove a genealogical right. Hebrews 7:11-14 reasons from the same premise and against the same background: that the law assigned the priesthood to one tribe, and that the tribe our Lord descended from was Judah, of which Moses said nothing concerning priests. Henry, commenting on this very chapter, moves the same way, noting that the Spirit of God now calls ministers without limit as to the families they came from, and that none but our great High Priest can make atonement for sin. ⚙ Greek and Hebrew share no Strong's number, so no verbal basis is available here or can be; the link is that Hebrews argues from precisely the qualification this list was written to certify.

Hebrews 7:11-14

basis: Cross-Testament Greek to Hebrew: shared Strong's lexemes are impossible by definition, so no verbal tier is available. The recorded basis is thematic and explicit in the NT text: Hebrews reasons about Levitical descent, which is the exact content this register certifies. Henry draws the same connection on this chapter.

The abridged twin of this list: Ezra 7:1-5 flagged: verify source

Ellicott notes that the list which follows these verses recurs in Ezra 7:1-7 in an abridged form, giving only fifteen names instead of twenty-two, and grants that it may well be the case that some links in the chain are wanting. Cambridge is blunter: the list of 1 Chronicles 6:4-14 is not exhaustive, and names Eli, Ahimelech, Abiathar, Azariah and Urijah among the priests history records but this chapter omits. ⚙ We record the relationship and flag it. Which list abridged which, and by what principle, is disputed; the Verifier returned no computed lexeme basis for this pair, and our three verses do not themselves reach the disputed names. Flagged rather than confirmed.

Ezra 7:1-5

basis: Provenance contested and no Verifier-computed lexeme basis for this pair. Ellicott records the abridged recurrence in Ezra 7:1-7 (fifteen names against twenty-two) and Cambridge holds the chapter's list not exhaustive; the direction and principle of abridgement are disputed, so the link is flagged for the reader to verify.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The honour no one takes for himself ancient/widely-held

Everything this register is for is stated as a principle at Hebrews 5:4, where the writer says the honour is not taken by a man for himself but received when God calls him, as Aaron was called (our summary of the verse, not a quotation of it). Henry says the same from the other side of the canon, that the honours and privileges of the office depended upon descent, and that though believers and ministers may be very useful to the church, none but our great High Priest can make atonement for sin, nor can any be accepted but through his atonement. ⚙ The list in front of us is therefore not a detour around the gospel but its legal backdrop: a priesthood that had to be inherited, held by men who could be struck down in it, pointing to one who holds it permanently because he continues forever (Hebrews 7:23-25). This is the apostolic reading, not a modern one.

Hebrews 5:4 · Hebrews 7:23-25

Strange fire at the head of the line ancient/widely-held

Two of the four names in verse 3 belong to men the priesthood could not survive. K&D state it plainly: Nadab and Abihu were slain when they offered strange fire before Jahve (Leviticus 10:1), and Aaron's race was continued only by Eleazar and Ithamar; Cambridge adds that they perished childless. ⚙ The register thus opens with the demonstration that access to God on Israel's terms is lethal when it is taken rather than given. Hebrews 9:11-14 sets its answer against exactly this problem of access: a high priest who enters the greater tabernacle not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own, and whose offering cleanses the conscience rather than consuming the one who brings it. The typology of Leviticus 10 read toward Christ's self-offering is ancient and widely held; we do not press it past what Hebrews itself says.

Leviticus 10:1-2 · Hebrews 9:11-14

The daughter kept in a list of sons novel

⚙ Novel, and offered as such. Miriam has no descendants for this register to trace, and by its own logic she need not appear; the word that gathers her, בְּנֵי (bnê, H1121), is masculine plural, and BSB softens it to children precisely because she is there. Gill names her a prophetess from Micah 6:4, where God says he sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam before his people. ⚙ Our reading, to be tested: the genealogies of Scripture keep breaking their own rule to hold a woman, and the line that ends in Christ does it most openly of all, naming Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Uriah's wife in Matthew 1:3-6. No commentator in this brief draws that connection, and it is ours, not theirs.

Micah 6:4 · Matthew 1:3-6

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. In the Hebrew division these verses are 1 Chronicles 5:27-29, not 6:1-3; both K&D and Cambridge print the Hebrew numbering (5:27-41 for the section) alongside the English. Readers comparing a Hebrew Bible will not find this passage where the English chapter number sends them. The interlinear surface forms of verse 2 (וְעֻזִּיאֵֽל׃ס) and verse 3 (וּמִרְיָ֑םס, וְאִיתָמָֽר׃ס) carry a trailing samekh, the scribal paragraph marker, which is not part of the name and is not translated.

Spelling. H1648 stands here as Gershon; Strong's records Gereshon or Gereshom, Ellicott notes the form Gershom at 1 Chronicles 6:16, and JFB's own chapter summary uses Gershom. We have not harmonized the two. H6955 is pointed Kehath, which Pulpit prefers to the conventional English Kohath.

Sources. Poole's annotations are absent on verses 1 and 3 (the brief records no text from Poole on those verses); his note on verse 2 is a bare cross-reference. Geneva's entries for all three verses reproduce the verse text with an exegetical heading and carry no comment, so Geneva is present in the brief but not quoted here. Barnes and JFB each give a single summary line for the whole chapter, and the lines quoted are their complete notes. Ellicott's and Gill's entries run past the end of this unit into the high-priestly list of verses 4 to 15; we have quoted only what bears on verses 1 to 3, and any claim above that reaches into that later list is marked as such.

Uncertain. Whether the Gershon and Gershom spellings indicate different sources is Ellicott's conjecture, offered by him with perhaps. Whether the following list is complete is denied by Cambridge and doubted by Ellicott; the chronology of the twenty-two generations depends on a date for the Exodus that Ellicott himself reports as ranging from 1648 B.C. to as late as 1265 B.C. Gill's report that the priesthood passed to Ithamar's house in the days of Uzzi rests on Josephus and later Jewish writers, which he cites, not on this text. The pairing of Aaron's sons by the conjunctive waw in verse 3 is our own observation on the syntax, not a claim found in any voice quoted here. No New Testament writer quotes these three verses, so every cross-Testament link in this unit is structural or typological and none is tiered verbal.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)