The LORD’s word to the priests: the commandment, and the covenant with Levi

• Genesis 29:31–35 tells of the sons Leah bore, and 29:34 says, “She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, ‘Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore his name was called Levi.”
  Source evidence (1)

  AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.

  • GEN 29:31–35, engwebp

    ³¹The LORD saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

    ³²Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because the LORD has looked at my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”

    ³³She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.” She named him Simeon.

    ³⁴She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.

    ³⁵She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

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• Deuteronomy 33:8 says, “About Levi he said, ‘Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one …’”, and 33:9, “for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant.”
  Source evidence (1)

  AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.

  • DEU 33:8–11, engwebp

    ⁸About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah.

    ⁹He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant.

    ¹⁰They shall teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you, and whole burnt offering on your altar.

    ¹¹LORD, bless his skills. Accept the work of his hands. Strike through the hips of those who rise up against him, of those who hate him, that they not rise again.”

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• In the LORD’s words to Moses, Numbers 25:11 names “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest”, and 25:12–13 say, “Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood”.
  Source evidence (1)

  AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.

  • NUM 25:10–13, engwebp

    ¹⁰The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

    ¹¹“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy.

    ¹²Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.

    ¹³It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”

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• Malachi 2:4 says, “that my covenant may be with Levi”; at 2:5 WEB reads “My covenant was with him of life and peace”, where the Korean Revised Version names Levi (레위와 세운 나의 언약은 생명과 평강의 언약이라); and 2:8 says, “You have corrupted the covenant of Levi”.
  Source evidence (1)

  AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.

  • MAL 2:1–9, engwebp

    ¹“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

    ²If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says the LORD of Armies, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart.

    ³Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

    ⁴You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says the LORD of Armies.

    ⁵“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.

    ⁶The 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.

    ⁷For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of Armies.

    ⁸But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Armies.

    ⁹“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.

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Genesis 29:34 says that the son Leah bore was named Levi; Deuteronomy 33:8–9 gives, in the words about Levi, “for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant”; and Numbers 25:11–13 gives the LORD’s words that he gives Phinehas the son of Eleazar his covenant of peace, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. Malachi 2:4–8 speaks of the LORD’s covenant with Levi and of one who was reverent toward him and turned many away from iniquity, and names no father of Levi and no Phinehas. The text of Malachi does not say who Levi is. This collection gives Malachi 2:1–9 to no person, and decides nothing.