Exodus 6:20 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years. His father's sister - דדתו dodatho. The true meaning of this word is uncertain. Parkhurst observes that דוד dod signifies an uncle in 1 Samuel 10:14; Leviticus 10:4, and frequently elsewhere. It signifies also an uncle's son, a cousin-german: compare Jeremiah 32:8 with Exodus 6:12, where the Vulgate renders דדי dodi by patruelis mei, my paternal cousin; and in Amos 6:10, for דודו dodo, the Targum has קריביה karibiah, his near relation. So the Vulgate, propinquus ejus, his relative, and the Septuagint, οἱ οικειοι αυτων, those of their household. The best critics suppose that Jochebed was the cousin-german of Amram, and not his aunt. See Clarke's note on Exodus 2:1.

Bare him Aaron and Moses - The Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, and one Hebrew MS. add, And Miriam their sister. Some of the best critics suppose these words to have been originally in the Hebrew text.

Exodus 6:20

20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.