Exodus 32:27-28

32:27 and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten ¹  his sword on his side, and go back and forth ²  from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ³ 

32:28 The Levites did what Moses ordered, ⁴  and that day about three thousand men of the people died. ⁵ 

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¹ tn Heb “put.”

² tn The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys: “pass over and return,” meaning, “go back and forth” throughout the camp.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “did according to the word of Moses.”

⁵ tn Heb “fell.”