(16-19) The three branches of Levi with their main subdivisions. Parallel passages, Exodus 6:16-19; Numbers 3:17-20.
(16) Gershom. — See Note on 1 Chronicles 6:1. In the Pentateuch, Gershom is son of Moses; Gershon, son of Levi.
(19) And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers. — The word’families” (Heb., mishpehuth) does not mean single households, but groups of households, or clans. The sentence concludes the short list of the great Levitical houses, just as at Exodus 6:19. (See also Numbers 3:20, where a like formula appears to introduce what follows.)