Exodus 6:16

וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת בְּנֵֽי־לֵוִי לְתֹלְדֹתָם גֵּרְשׁוֹן וּקְהָת וּמְרָרִי וּשְׁנֵי חַיֵּי לֵוִי שֶׁבַע וּשְׁלֹשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָֽה׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְאֵ֨לֶּה שְׁמ֤וֹת בְּנֵֽי־לֵוִי֙ לְתֹ֣לְדֹתָ֔ם גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹן וּקְהָ֖ת וּמְרָרִ֑י וּשְׁנֵי֙ חַיֵּ֣י לֵוִ֔י שֶׁ֧בַע וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֛ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν υἱῶν Λευεὶ κατὰ συγγενίας αὐτῶν · Γεδσὼν καὶ Καὰθ καὶ Μεραρεί· καὶ τὰ ἔτη τῆς Λευεὶ ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἑπτά.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Et hæc nomina filiorum Levi per cognationes suas: Gerson, et Caath, et Merari. Anni autem vitæ Levi fuerunt centum triginta septem.

Spanish

Estos son los nombres de los hijos de Leví, según sus descendientes: Gersón, Coat y Merari. Leví vivió ciento treinta y siete años.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y estos son los nombres de los hijos de Leví por sus linajes: Gersón, y Coath, y Merari. Y los años de la vida de Leví fueron ciento treinta y siete años.

English

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

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse names the three sons of Levi — Gershon, Kohath, and Merari — according to their family lines (toledotam, H8435), and records that Levi lived 137 years.

Key words

toledotam ("their descendants", H8435) — feminine plural construct with pronominal suffix "their," meaning the verse organizes the sons "according to their generations/lineages," not merely a list.
shemot ("names of", H8034) — feminine plural construct, opening formula "these are the names of," a construct chain linking directly to bene ("sons of", H1121A).
shenei ("years of", H8141) — masculine plural construct, beginning the numerical formula for a lifespan, paired again with shanah ("year", H8141) at the end of the verse.
chayyei ("life of", H2416E) — masculine plural construct, forming with shenei the idiomatic phrase "the years of the life of," a standard construction for stating someone's total lifespan.
me'at ("hundred", H3967) — feminine singular construct, the final numeral in the sequence seven-thirty-hundred, which together total 137.

What the text says

The verse divides into two parts joined by ve ("and", H9002). The first part is a construct chain: shemot ("names of") + bene ("sons of") + Levi names the three sons — Gershon, Kohath, Merari — introduced by the demonstrative 'elleh ("these", H0428) and qualified by le-toledotam ("according to their descendants/generations", H8435 with preposition H9005 and suffix H9028), indicating the list is framed by lineage rather than simple enumeration.

The second part records Levi's lifespan using the construct phrase shenei chayyei Levi ("the years of the life of Levi"), followed by the number written in the Hebrew style of ascending units: sheva' ("seven", H7651), u-shloshim ("and thirty", H7970), u-me'at ("and a hundred", H3967), shanah ("year", H8141) — literally "seven and thirty and a hundred, a year," totaling 137. This numeral construction, listing smaller units before larger ones, is a common pattern in Biblical Hebrew for stating ages.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders le-toledotam ("according to their descendants", H8435) as κατὰ συγγενίας αὐτῶν ("according to their kinships/families"), a paraphrase of the lineage sense rather than a literal "generations." The Vulgate uses per cognationes suas ("through their kinships"), similarly interpretive. Both LXX and Vulgate present the final numeral as a single cardinal figure (ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἑπτά / centum triginta septem, "137"), whereas the Hebrew constructs it as three separate numeral terms (sheva', shloshim, me'at) joined by ve ("and").

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.