What Does Numbers 3:33 Mean in the King James?

Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari.

Numbers 3:33 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Merari’s name carries the root of bitterness into a family register where even a bitter name is distinctly counted.

THE MEANING

This verse identifies Merari’s branch through the Mahlites and the Mushites, then gathers both under one family name. Each clan has a distinct name and a place within the larger kinship. Merari is commonly connected to the Hebrew root for bitterness, so that shade remains audible in the family line.

THE ROOT

מְרָרִי

Merari

GROWS FROM

מרר

marar

To be bitter or to make bitter.

Merari’s name is commonly linked to ⁨מרר⁩, the root for bitterness. That root also appears in words for becoming bitter and for bitter herbs, so the name carries a quality as well as identifying a family.

ALSO GROWS

marar: To be bitter; to make bitter.

מָרַר

This verb shows the force carried by the root associated with Merari’s name.

merorim: Bitter herbs.

מְרֹרִים

The same root gives a name to bitterness that is tasted and remembered.

THE PATTERN

A larger kinship is preserved through the names of its distinct branches.

And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Genesis 46:11 · KJVMerari is named as one distinct branch within Levi’s family line.

And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations.

Exodus 6:19 · KJVThe family line is traced through named descendants and gathered into its larger kinship.

The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers.

1 Chronicles 6:19 · KJVMerari’s descendants remain identifiable as branches within the Levite families.

THE THREAD

And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Exodus 1:14 · KJV

Exodus 1:14 uses the same ⁨מרר⁩ root in “made their lives bitter.” The shared root lets Merari’s name resonate with the lived force of bitterness while Numbers 3:33 keeps the clan’s identity in view.

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