Hebrew word · H4250

מַחְלִי

hamachli

Mahlite

These are gentilic forms ('-ite', 'belonging to the line of') of the names Mahli and Mushi, Merari's two sons (Exod 6:19; Num 3:20; 1 Chr 6:19; 23:21). Mahli is sometimes connected with the root ḥ-l-h, 'to be weak or sick'. The meaning of Mushi is uncertain.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Someone descended from Mahli who was a man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, first mentioned at Exo.6.19;

son of: Merari (H4847);

brother of: Mushi (H4187) and Jaaziah (H3269);

father of: Libni (H3845H), Eleazar (H0499J) and Kish (H7027H)

Group of mach.li (מַחְלִי "Mahli" H4249)

§ Mahlites, of Mahli "my sickness"

descendants of Mahli, the grandson of Levi

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Numbers 3:33

Range of meaning

These are gentilic forms ('-ite', 'belonging to the line of') of the names Mahli and Mushi, Merari's two sons (Exod 6:19; Num 3:20; 1 Chr 6:19; 23:21). Mahli is sometimes connected with the root ḥ-l-h, 'to be weak or sick'. The meaning of Mushi is uncertain. Some scholars connect it with the name Moses (Mosheh), but this is a hypothesis.

Against the English

The YLT keeps the Hebrew singular, 'the Mahlite… the Mushite'. Most versions make it plural, 'Mahlites… Mushites', which correctly conveys the collective sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Chr 23:21–23 and 24:26–30 trace these clans further, including Mahli's sons Eleazar and Kish. Numbers 26:58 lists 'the clan of the Mahlites' and 'the clan of the Mushites' among the Levite clans.

Similar words

Where it appears

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 3:33 הַמַּחְלִ֔י the Mahlite[s]

    From Merari came the clans of the Mahlites and Mushites; these were the Merarite clans.

    Here: A clan name built from the ancestor Mahli, Merari's son (Exod 6:19). It is grammatically singular with 'the', but it stands for the whole group: 'the Mahlite [kin]'.

  2. Numbers 26:58 הַמַּחְלִי֙ the Mahlite[s]

    These were the families of the Levites: The Libnite clan, the Hebronite clan, the Mahlite clan, the Mushite clan, and the Korahite clan. Now Kohath was the father of Amram,

    Here: The clan descended from Mahli, son of Merari (Exod 6:19; Num 3:20, 33).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.