Amram - UPDV Updated Bible Version

Amram is the Levite husband of Jochebed and the father of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. He stands one generation below Kohath in the priestly genealogies that the Pentateuch and Chronicles preserve, and his name in turn becomes a clan title — the Amramites — in the rosters of those who serve at the sanctuary. A short post-exilic notice records a second man named Amram in the assembly that responded to Ezra. A third occurrence in older indexes (1Ch 1:41 as a son of Dishon) does not appear in the UPDV text, which reads "Hamran" at that point.

Son of Kohath

The genealogies place Amram firmly in the second generation of the Levite line. Exodus opens the list with Kohath's four sons: "And the sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred thirty and three years" (Ex 6:18). The same four-name sequence recurs in Numbers and Chronicles. Numbers ties the descent to a single verb of generation — "And Kohath begot Amram" (Nu 26:58) — while the Chronicler repeats the roster twice in his Levite catalog: "And the sons of Kohath were Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel" (1Ch 6:18), and again "The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four" (1Ch 23:12).

Husband of Jochebed, father of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam

Two passages name Amram's household. Exodus places his marriage and offspring in the run-up to the exodus narrative: "And Amram took himself Jochebed his father's sister as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty and seven years" (Ex 6:20). Numbers adds the daughter and clarifies Jochebed's parentage: "And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt: and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister" (Nu 26:59). Chronicles compresses the same family into a single line: "And the sons of Amram: Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam" (1Ch 6:3). The Chronicler returns once more, this time with the priestly consequence in view: "The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons, forever, to burn incense before Yahweh, to minister to him, and to bless in his name, forever" (1Ch 23:13). Aaron's permanent priestly office and Moses' role at Sinai both pass through Amram's house.

Lifespan

The same Exodus verse that names his wife and sons also fixes his age: "the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty and seven years" (Ex 6:20). The figure stands between Kohath's hundred and thirty-three (Ex 6:18) and the patriarchal lifespans the book has been tracking, anchoring the chronological backbone that connects the descent into Egypt with the generation of Moses.

Head of a Levite branch — the Amramites

Amram's name does not stop with him; it becomes a clan label. Numbers' census-frame for the Levites lists him first among Kohath's four sons — "And the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel" (Nu 3:19) — and then converts those four personal names into four family names: "And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites" (Nu 3:27). The Chronicler's later organization of temple personnel preserves the same fourfold structure: "Of the Amramites, of the Izharites, of the Hebronites, of the Uzzielites" (1Ch 26:23). Amram is thus both a person and the namesake of one of the four Kohathite branches that carry the sanctuary's holiest service.

A second Amram, post-exilic

A different man named Amram appears once, in Ezra's list of those among the returned community who had taken foreign wives and now responded to the reform: "Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel" (Ezr 10:34). He shares only the name with the Levite of Exodus.

A note on 1 Chronicles 1:41