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Zechariah 12:13

the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;

  • KJV King James Version

    The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;

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Cross-references (10)

Passages linked to Zechariah 12:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Exodus 6:16-26 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years. The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. The sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred thirty-three years. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. Amram took Jochebed his father’s sister to himself as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. The years of the life of Amram were one hundred thirty-seven years. The sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. The sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. Eleazar Aaron’s son took 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. These are that Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.”
  • Numbers 3:1-4 Now this is the history of the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that Yahweh spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai. These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office. Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the presence of Aaron their father.
  • 2 Samuel 16:5 When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came.
  • 1 Kings 1:8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.
  • 1 Chronicles 3:19 The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister;
  • 1 Chronicles 4:27 Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family didn’t multiply like the children of Judah.
  • 1 Chronicles 23:7 Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
  • 1 Chronicles 23:10 The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.
  • 2 Chronicles 29:14 and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
  • Malachi 2:4-9 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. “My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies. But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (9 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Now, why he names the house of Levi, and…

Now, why he names the house of Levi, and the house of Shimei, or of Simeon, and the house of David, and the house of Nathan, rather than the other tribes, is uncertain: yet it seems to me probable that by the family of David he means the whole tribe of Judah, and the same by the family of Nathan. As to the tribe of Levi it excelled in honor on account of the priesthood, but no honor belonged to Simeon. Why then are Issachar and Reuben the first-born, and the other tribes omitted here? It might indeed have been, that there were then remaining more from the tribes of Simeon and Levi than from the tribe of Zebulon or of Issachar or of Reuben; but this is uncertain, and I am not disposed to make much of mere conjectures. But I am inclined to think that the family of David and the tribe of Levi are here mentioned not for the sake of honor but of reproach, because the royal family and the priests were those who crucified Christ, and pierced God in the person of his only-begotten Son. Jerome conjectures, that the family of Nathan is named, because he was a celebrated Prophet and eminent above others, and that the Prophets are designated by him. He says that many teachers arose from the tribe of Simeon; but I know not where he got his information, for he adduces no proofs.

But I am satisfied with the simple view already given, — that the Prophet by mentioning certain families meant to include the whole people, and that he does not omit the royal family nor the priests, because they were especially those who crucified Christ: and we know that Christ descended from Nathan, though Jerome thought the Prophet to be intended here rather than Nathan, one of Christ’s progenitors: but these things are of small moment.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Called also Simeon.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The sacerdotal tribe were the most bitter and fierce…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The family of the house of Levi apart, and…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The house of Levi - The sacerdotal tribe were…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Nathan. Zorobabel was his descendant. --- Semei, the son…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Levi . . . Shimei--the highest and lowest of…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) Shimei.—Not the Benjamite tribe (2Sa_16:5), but of the…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Levi... Shimei. As before, the priestly family is first…

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