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Person · Tribe of Levi

Jochebed

Woman living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness

Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, married her nephew Amram and became the mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

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Jochebed, meaning "Yahweh is glory," was the mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. She is mentioned in Exo.6.20 and Num.26.59 in the genealogical records of the Levites. Jochebed was the daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt. She married her nephew Amram, the son of her brother Kohath. This marriage took place before the laws prohibiting such unions were given (Lev.18.12).

Jochebed gave birth to three children who would play significant roles in Israel's history: Miriam, the eldest, followed by Aaron and Moses. According to Exo.2.1-10, when Moses was born, Jochebed hid him for three months to protect him from Pharaoh's edict to kill all male Hebrew babies. When she could no longer hide him, she placed him in a basket among the reeds of the Nile River, where he was found and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. Jochebed's faith and courage in protecting her son led to Moses being raised in the Egyptian court, ultimately preparing him for his future role as Israel's deliverer.

Family

Father
Levi
Siblings
GershonKohathMerari
Spouse or partner
Amram
Children
MosesAaronMiriam

Connections

Part of: Moses and his circle

Moses, Aaron and Miriam: a Levite sibling trio

FamilyStated in the text

The children of Amram and Jochebed, of the clan of Kohath in the tribe of Levi. Aaron was the elder brother; Miriam the sister (probably the one who watched the baby Moses in the Nile). Miriam is called prophetess; Aaron became the first high priest.

MosesSon of AmramAaronHigh PriestMiriamMoses' sisterAmramMoses' fatherJochebedSister of Gershon
Where the text shows it: Exod 6:20 — Amram and Jochebed bear Aaron and MosesNum 26:59 — Jochebed bore Aaron, Moses and MiriamExod 15:20 — Miriam the prophetessExod 2:4 — Sister watching the baby; Miriam is not named here
Ways people read this (1)
  • The identification of the watching sister in Exodus 2 with Miriam is the standard reading but rests on inference.

Sources: Exod 6:20 · Num 26:59

More background: search Wikipedia ↗

Bible dictionary

Jochebed Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Jehovah is her glory, the wife of Amram, and the mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses (Num. 26:59). She is spoken of as the sister of Kohath, Amram’s father (Ex. 6:20; comp. 16, 18; 2:1-10).

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Jochebed Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(whose glory is Jehovah), the wife and at the same time the aunt of Amram and the mother of Moses and Aaron. (Exodus 2:1; 6:20; Numbers 26:59)

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Jochebed Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

glorious; honorable

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Jochebed Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

JOCH'EBED (whose glory is Jehovah), the mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam, was the wife and aunt of Amram, and the daughter of Levi. Ex 6:20; Num 26:69.

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Jochebed Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

JOCH'EBED (whose glory is Jehovah), the mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam, was the wife and aunt of Amram, and the daughter of Levi. Ex 6:20; Num 26:69.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Jochebed appears

2 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H3115

Exodus1
Numbers1

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.