Exodus 32:26-28

32:26 So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come ¹  to me.” ²  All the Levites gathered around him, 32:27 and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten ³  his sword on his side, and go back and forth ⁴  from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ⁵ 

32:28 The Levites did what Moses ordered, ⁶  and that day about three thousand men of the people died. ⁷ 

¹ tn “come” is not in the text, but has been supplied.

² tn S. R. Driver suggests that the command was tersely put: “Who is for Yahweh? To me!” (Exodus, 354).

³ tn Heb “put.”

⁴ tn The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys: “pass over and return,” meaning, “go back and forth” throughout the camp.

⁵ tn The phrases have “and kill a man his brother, and a man his companion, and a man his neighbor.” The instructions were probably intended to mean that they should kill leaders they knew to be guilty because they had been seen or because they failed the water test – whoever they were.

⁶ tn Heb “did according to the word of Moses.”

⁷ tn Heb “fell.”