Word study

Levi

2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “levi”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “Levi” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • לֵוִי LêvîLevitranslated this way 43 times of its 48 uses · Strong’s H3878Noun  ·  Translated: Levi 42, Levites 3, Levite 1, Concerning Levi 1

    Genesis 29:34 Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

    Exodus 1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

    Full study and all 46 verses →
  • לֵוִיִּי LêvîîLevitetranslated this way 7 times of its 285 uses · Strong’s H3881Noun  ·  Translated: Levites 221, Levite 34, Levitical 14, Levi 7

    Exodus 6:16 These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

    Numbers 3:6 “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him.

    Full study and all 258 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • Λευΐ LeuḯLevitranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G3017Noun  ·  Translated: Levi 5

    Luke 3:24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

    Hebrews 7:5 Now the law commands the sons of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people — that is, from their brothers — though they too are descended from Abraham.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • Λευΐς LeuḯsLevitranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3018Noun  ·  Translated: Levi 3

    Mark 2:14 As He was walking along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Levi got up and followed Him.

    Luke 5:27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him,

    Full study and all 3 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

What the Bible says about Levi: passages by topic →

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.