Genesis 46:10 kjv

And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.

Genesis 46:10 nkjv

The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

Genesis 46:10 niv

The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

Genesis 46:10 esv

The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

Genesis 46:10 nlt

The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul. (Shaul's mother was a Canaanite woman.)

Genesis 46 verses

Genesis 46 10 Meaning

Genesis 46:10 lists the six sons born to Simeon, one of Jacob's twelve sons, who traveled with their household into Egypt during the famine. This verse is part of the extensive genealogical record of Jacob's family members who settled in Egypt, emphasizing the precise fulfillment of God's promise to build a great nation from Jacob's descendants. The verse particularly notes Shaul as the son of a Canaanitish woman, highlighting an instance of intermarriage within the early patriarchal families.

Genesis 46 10 Context

Genesis chapter 46 recounts Jacob's entire family, comprising seventy persons, descending into Egypt at Joseph's invitation. This migration is a crucial transitional moment for the patriarchal family, moving them from dwelling as nomads in Canaan to becoming a numerous people in a foreign land, as part of God's overarching plan for their growth into a nation. The preceding verses detail Jacob's apprehension about leaving Canaan, God's reassurance to him in Beer-sheba, and then the journey's commencement. Verse 10 specifically contributes to the meticulous enumeration of the "children of Israel," demonstrating the fulfillment of God's promise to multiply Jacob's descendants and underscoring the integrity of the ancestral lineage through which the twelve tribes would emerge. This record not only emphasizes historical continuity but also validates the divine faithfulness behind the formation of the chosen nation.

Genesis 46 10 Word analysis

• And the sons of Simeon: (wəḇənê šimʿôn - וּבְנֵי שִׁמְעוֹן). This phrase connects Simeon's family list directly to the preceding lists of Reuben's sons. It establishes the sequential genealogical record as the narrative traces the tribal heads. Simeon's family, though, often carries associations with the violent episode at Shechem (Gen 34) and Jacob's curse (Gen 49).
• Jemuel: (yəmûʾēl - יְמוּאֵל). This name means "Day of God" or "God is light/fire." It corresponds to "Nemuel" (nəmûʾēl) in Numbers 26:12 and 1 Chronicles 4:24, suggesting a common scribal or phonetic variation for the same person or line.
• and Jamin: (wəyāmîn - וְיָמִין). Meaning "right hand" or "good fortune." This name remains consistent across all primary genealogical lists.
• and Ohad: (wəʾōḥaḏ - וְאֹחַד). Meaning "uniter" or "he seized." This name is uniquely present in Genesis 46:10. It is absent from later lists of Simeon's clans in Numbers 26 and 1 Chronicles 4, which could imply that this specific line did not produce a surviving clan, or perhaps was subsumed into another. This detail highlights the specificity and potentially the earliest, most complete record of Simeon's immediate family.
• and Jachin: (wəyākîn - וְיָכִין). Meaning "he will establish." This name appears again as a family name in Numbers 26:12 and 1 Chronicles 4:24. It also corresponds to the name of one of the bronze pillars in Solomon's Temple (1 Ki 7:21).
• and Zohar: (wəṣōḥar - וְצֹחַר). Meaning "whiteness" or "brightness." This name appears as "Zerah" (zeraḥ) in 1 Chronicles 4:24, again indicating variations in names over time or across different records, which is not uncommon in biblical genealogies. This variation underscores the challenges of transliterating ancient names and preserving their exact form across centuries.
• and Shaul: (wəšāʾûl - וְשָׁאוּל). Meaning "asked" or "desired." This name later becomes famous with the first King of Israel. Its inclusion here shows it as an ancient and established Hebrew name.
• the son of a Canaanitish woman: (ben ha-kənaʿănît - בֶּן־הַכְּנַעֲנִית). This phrase is significant and unique within this list.
  • "Canaanitish woman": (ha-kənaʿănît) specifically identifies Shaul's mother as being from the native inhabitants of the land of Canaan. This stands in contrast to the typical practice of marrying within kin or the larger Mesopotamian familial circle. The Bible often views such unions with suspicion or as problematic (e.g., Ezra, Nehemiah, later law against intermarriage), but here it is presented as a matter of fact.
  • Significance: The explicit mention of Shaul's mother's origin, contrasted with the absence of such details for other sons, highlights a specific, and perhaps unusual, marital union within Simeon's immediate family. It implicitly recognizes that despite ideal expectations, early Israelite tribal lines could include diverse elements. This demonstrates the Bible's historical accuracy in presenting Israel's origins, not as a monolithic pure race, but as a divinely chosen people whose formation also involved human choices and varying interactions with surrounding cultures. This specific detail might foreshadow Simeon's tribe's later history, marked by strong engagement and sometimes assimilation with surrounding peoples (e.g., in Judges, Simeon's land was surrounded by Judah's and later absorbed into it; also their dispersal among Israel).

Genesis 46 10 Bonus section

The consistent listing of Simeon's sons across Genesis 46, Numbers 26, and 1 Chronicles 4 (despite minor name variations) highlights the importance of precise genealogical records for Israel. This accuracy served to affirm tribal identities and inheritance rights, reflecting an ancient Near Eastern cultural emphasis on lineage. The exclusion of Ohad from later lists could suggest his line either died out early without prominent descendants, or his branch merged into another more dominant Simmeonite clan, demonstrating the fluid nature of tribal consolidation. This meticulous biblical record also stands in stark contrast to the less detailed or mythological origins stories found in some other ancient cultures, reinforcing the unique historical emphasis of the Bible.

Genesis 46 10 Commentary

Genesis 46:10 is a precise demographic entry in the crucial account of Jacob's household entering Egypt. It is more than a mere list of names; it serves several significant purposes. Firstly, it meticulous contributes to the seventy-person count of Jacob's household, a symbolic number signifying completeness and illustrating the early fulfillment of God's promise to make Abraham's descendants numerous even before they enter nationhood. Secondly, the variation in names across different biblical lists (e.g., Ohad's unique appearance here; variations of Jemuel and Zohar) suggests Genesis 46 captures the most direct and initial census upon entering Egypt, a foundational record from which later tribal structures and genealogical accounts would derive.

Most importantly, the phrase "Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman" is a notable detail. While the Israelites later received strong prohibitions against intermarriage with Canaanites, this historical note reminds us that such unions, even if not ideal, did occur among the very founders of the nation. This particularity could subtly underline Simeon's character and fate, as detailed in Jacob's curse in Genesis 49 and their later tribal history marked by struggle and dispersal. The presence of a Canaanite lineage within the original tribal heads reveals God's sovereignty working through human realities, forming His chosen people from diverse components while faithfully preserving the main covenant line through which His divine promises would progress.