Jacob and Leah's third son — named for her hope that now, with three sons, her husband will be 'joined' (lavah) to her (29:34). With Simeon he leads the massacre at Shechem (34:25) and shares the same deathbed curse for it: 'cursed be their anger… I will scatter them in Israel' (49:7). Yet the scattering turns to grace: Levi's descendants become the priestly tribe, given no land of their own but Jehovah himself as their portion — dispersed through all Israel's towns precisely as its teachers and priests, the curse of scattering remade into a vocation. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam are Levites; so is the whole priesthood. The avenger's line becomes the tribe that stands at the altar.