וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לָהֶ֗ם כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר יְהוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל שִׂ֥ימוּ אִישׁ־חַרְבּ֖וֹ עַל־יְרֵכ֑וֹ עִבְר֨וּ וָשׁ֜וּבוּ מִשַּׁ֤עַר לָשַׁ֙עַר֙ בַּֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וְהִרְג֧וּ אִֽישׁ־אֶת־אָחִ֛יו וְאִ֥ישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵ֖הוּ וְאִ֥ישׁ אֶת־קְרֹבֽוֹ׃
Lalu ia berkata kepada mereka: “Beginilah firman Yang Mahakekal, Allah Israel: Hendaklah masing-masing menyandang pedangnya di pinggangnya. Berjalanlah bolak-balik dari gerbang ke gerbang di seluruh perkemahan, dan bunuhlah, masing-masing, saudaranya, sahabatnya, dan kerabatnya.”
On Drunkenness
[67] For we read “slay each his brother and each his neighbour and each him that is nearest to him. And the children of Levi did as Moses spake, and there fell of the people on that day up to three thousand men” (Exod. 32:27, 28). And he praises those who had slain this great multitude with these words, “ye have filled your hands to-day unto the Lord, each in his son or in his brother, that blessing should be given upon you” (Exod. 32:29).
On Flight and Finding
[90] Was this, then, the only reason, or was it also because the Tribe of Levi, consisting of those who had the care of the Tabernacle, rushed upon and slew from the young upwards those who fashioned into a god the golden calf, the Egyptian folly? They did this under the impulse of righteous anger accompanied by an inspiration from above and a God-sent possession: “And each man slays brother and neighbour and his nearest” (Exod. 32:27), for the body is “brother” of the soul, the irrational part of us neighbour of the rational, and the word of utterance “next of kin” to mind.