Hebrew word · H4848

מְרָרִי

merari

Merari

A personal name: the third son of Levi (Gen 46:11; Exod 6:16). It is also used as a group name for his descendants, 'the Merarites' (Num 26:57). It is usually linked to the root m-r-r, 'to be bitter', though how names actually came to be given is not recoverable.

Appears 4 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Someone descended from Merari who was a man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, first mentioned at Gen.46.11;

son of: Levi (H3878);

brother of: Gershon (H1648), Kohath (H6955) and Jochebed (H3115);

father of: Mahli (H4249), Mushi (H4187) and Jaaziah (H3269)

Another name of me.ra.ri (מְרָרִי "Merari" H4847)

§ Merarites, of Marari "bitter"

descendants of Merari, the son of Levi, and members of a Levitical family

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

A personal name: the third son of Levi (Gen 46:11; Exod 6:16). It is also used as a group name for his descendants, 'the Merarites' (Num 26:57). It is usually linked to the root m-r-r, 'to be bitter', though how names actually came to be given is not recoverable.

Against the English

English versions differ on whether the second occurrence should be rendered as the person 'Merari' (KJV, WEB, YLT) or as the group, 'the Merarite clans' (BSB). Both readings are possible from the Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

Merari appears in the Levi genealogies of Gen 46:11, Exod 6:16–19, Num 3:17–20, Num 26:57–58 and 1 Chr 6. In Chronicles, Merarite Levites later serve as temple singers (Ethan, 1 Chr 6:44) and gatekeepers.

Similar words

Where it appears

Numbers · 4

  1. Numbers 3:33 לִמְרָרִ֕י מְרָרִֽי׃ [belonged] to Merari, [the] Merarite[s]

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

    Here: The prefix 'to' marks belonging: these groups 'belong to' Merari, Levi's third son. It works like a heading, 'Under Merari:', and introduces the third Levite division after Gershon (3:21) and Kohath (3:27).

  2. Numbers 3:35 מְרָרִ֔י [the] Merarite[s]

    The leader of the families of the Merarites was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

  3. Numbers 26:57 הַמְּרָרִֽי׃ the Merarite[s]

    Now these were the Levites numbered by their clans: The Gershonite clan from Gershon, the Kohathite clan from Kohath, and the Merarite clan from Merari.

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