Numbers 3:19

Summary

The verse lists the sons of Kohath, organized "according to their clans" (le-mishpechotam, H4940+H9028): Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. It is a genealogical enumeration within the larger census/organization of the Levites in Numbers 3.

Key words

• ve.Nei ("[the] sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct, linking Kohath's descendants as a defined group ("sons of X") rather than isolated individuals.
• mish.pe.cho.Ta.m ("clans", H4940 + H9028) — feminine plural construct with a 3rd person masculine plural suffix ("their"), indicating that what follows is a listing structured by clan/family unit, not merely a list of names.
• 'am.Ram ("Amram", H6019G) — proper name, first son listed, no grammatical marking beyond being in apposition to "sons of Kohath."
• yitz.Har ("Izhar", H3324) — proper name, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) to the preceding name, part of the coordinated series.
• 'u.zi.'El ("Uzziel", H5816G) — proper name, final name in the series, also joined by ve ("and", H9002).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence begins with the conjunction u ("and", H9002) connecting this verse to the preceding material, then presents the construct phrase bene Qehat ("sons of Kohath") — grammatically a bound relationship where "sons" (H1121A) stands in construct to the proper name "Kohath" (H6955). This construct chain is immediately qualified by the prepositional phrase le-mishpechotam ("to/according to their clans," H4940+H9028), which frames the four names that follow not as a simple genealogical list but as a division into clan units — each name likely representing the head of a mishpachah ("clan") within the larger tribe of Kohath.

The four proper names — Amram (H6019G), Izhar (H3324), Hebron (H2275B), and Uzziel (H5816G) — are placed in apposition to "sons of Kohath," with the conjunction ve ("and") appearing only before the second and fourth names (ve-Yitzhar, ve-'Uzzi'el), while the first and third names (Amram, Hebron) lack a preceding conjunction. This creates a paired structure in the Hebrew syntax: Amram-and-Izhar as one pair, Hebron-and-Uzziel as another, though all four function as coordinate elements listing the sons of Kohath.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Yitzhar (H3324) as Ἰσσαάρ (Issaar), and the Vulgate renders it as Jesaar — both differing in transliteration from the Hebrew yitz.Har. Similarly, the LXX gives Ὀζειήλ (Ozeiel) and the Vulgate Oziel for the Hebrew 'u.zi.'El (Uzziel), reflecting minor transliteration variants rather than differences in meaning or word order. The Hebrew le-mishpechotam ("according to their clans") is rendered by the LXX as κατὰ δήμους αὐτῶν ("according to their peoples/districts"), using a Greek term (demous) that carries a slightly broader civic connotation than the Hebrew mishpachah ("clan/family").