Genesis 49:5
New International Version
“Simeon and Levi are brothers— their swords are weapons of violence.

New Living Translation
“Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; their weapons are instruments of violence.

English Standard Version
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.

Berean Standard Bible
Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.

King James Bible
Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

New King James Version
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.

New American Standard Bible
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence.

NASB 1995
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence.

NASB 1977
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence.

Amplified Bible
“Simeon and Levi are brothers [equally headstrong, deceitful, vindictive, and cruel]; Their swords are weapons of violence and revenge.

Christian Standard Bible
Simeon and Levi are brothers; their knives are vicious weapons.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Simeon and Levi are brothers; their knives are vicious weapons.

American Standard Version
Simeon and Levi are brethren; Weapons of violence are their swords.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Shemon and Levi, brothers, are weapons of rage by their nature.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Symeon and Levi, brethren, accomplished the injustice of their cutting off.

Contemporary English Version
Simeon and Levi, you are brothers, each a gruesome sword.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Simeon and Levi brethren: vessels of iniquity, waging war.

English Revised Version
Simeon and Levi are brethren; Weapons of violence are their swords.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"[Simeon] and [Levi] are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.

Good News Translation
"Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their weapons to commit violence.

International Standard Version
"Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are violent weapons.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Simeon and Levi are brethren; Weapons of violence their kinship.

Literal Standard Version
Simeon and Levi [are] brothers! Instruments of violence—their espousals!

Majority Standard Bible
Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.

New American Bible
“Simeon and Levi, brothers indeed, weapons of violence are their knives.

NET Bible
Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their knives!

New Revised Standard Version
Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.

New Heart English Bible
Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.

Webster's Bible Translation
Simeon and Levi are brethren: instruments of cruelty are in, their habitations.

World English Bible
“Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.

Young's Literal Translation
Simeon and Levi are brethren! Instruments of violence -- their espousals!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jacob Blesses His Sons
4Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it. 5Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. 6May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.…

Cross References
Genesis 29:34
Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi.

Genesis 34:25
Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons (Dinah's brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male.

Numbers 34:20
Shemuel son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon;

Joshua 21:8
So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these cities, together with their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.


Treasury of Scripture

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

Simeon.

Genesis 29:33,34
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon…

Genesis 34:25-29
And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males…

Genesis 46:10,11
And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman…

instruments, etc.

Genesis 34:25-29
And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males…

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Cruelty Deceit Designs Espousals Force Habitations Implements Instruments Levi Secret Simeon Swords Violence Weapons
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Cruelty Deceit Designs Espousals Force Habitations Implements Instruments Levi Secret Simeon Swords Violence Weapons
Genesis 49
1. Jacob calls his sons to bless them.
3. Their blessing in particular.
29. He charges them about his burial.
33. He dies.














(5) Simeon and Levi are brethren.--That is, they are alike in character and disposition. Despising the feeble Reuben, they seem to have been close friends and allies, and probably tried to exercise a tyrannical authority over their younger brethren, Judah being the only one near them in age.

Their habitations.--This translation is universally abandoned, but there is much difference of opinion as to the real meaning of the word. The most probable explanation is that given by Jerome and Rashi, who render it swords. Apparently it is the Greek word machaera, a knife; and as neither the Hebrews nor the Canaanites were metallurgists, such articles�were imported by merchants from Ionia. Long before the days of Jacob, caravans of traders traversed the whole country, and the goods which they brought would carry with them their own foreign names. The sentence, therefore, should be translated, "weapons of violence are their knives." The other meaning given by some competent critics, namely, compacts, if the word could be formed at all from the supposed root, would mean marriage contracts, and this gives no intelligible sense.

Verses 5-7. - Simeon and Levi are brethren (not in parentage alone, but also in their deeds; e.g. their massacre of the Shechemites (Genesis 34:25), to which undoubtedly the next words allude); instruments of cruelty are in their habitations - literally, instruments of violence their מְכֵדֹת, a ἅπαξ λεγόμ. which has been variously rendered

(1) their dwellings, or habitations (Kimchi, A. V., Calvin, Ainsworth), in the land of their sojourning (Onkelos), for which, however, there does not seem to be much authority;

(2) their machinations or wicked counsels, deriving from מָכַר, to string together, to take in a net, to ensnare (Nahum 3:4), the cognate Arabic root signifying to deceive or practice stratagems (De Dieu, Schultens, Castelli, Tayler Lewis, and others);

(3) their betrothals, or compacts of marriage, connecting with the same root as the preceding in the sense of "binding together" (Dathius, Clericus, Michaelis, Knobel, Furst, et alii); . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Simeon
שִׁמְע֥וֹן (šim·‘ō·wn)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 8095: Simeon -- a son of Jacob, also his tribe, also an Israelite with a foreign wife

and Levi
וְלֵוִ֖י (wə·lê·wî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3878: Levi -- a son of Jacob, also the tribe descended from him

are brothers;
אַחִ֑ים (’a·ḥîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 251: A brother, )

their swords
מְכֵרֹתֵיהֶֽם׃ (mə·ḵê·rō·ṯê·hem)
Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 4380: (probably some kind of) weapon

are weapons
כְּלֵ֥י (kə·lê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3627: Something prepared, any apparatus

of violence.
חָמָ֖ס (ḥā·mās)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2555: Violence, wrong, by meton, unjust gain


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OT Law: Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 49:4
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