Exodus 1:2

Summary

Exodus 1:2 lists four sons of Jacob by name: Re'uven ("Reuben", H7205), Shim'on ("Simeon", H8095), Levi ("Levi", H3878), and Yehudah ("Judah", H3063). The verse continues an enumeration of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt, begun in verse 1.

Key words

• re.'u.Ven ("Reuben", H7205) — proper name, first in the list, no grammatical marking beyond being a bare noun in apposition to the preceding verse's subject.
• shim.'on ("Simeon", H8095) — proper name, second item, juxtaposed without a conjunction.
• le.Vi ("Levi", H3878) — proper name, third item, likewise juxtaposed without a conjunction.
• vi. ("and", H9002) — conjunction prefixed directly to the final name, marking the closure of the list.
• hu.Dah ("Judah", H3063) — proper name, fourth and last item, carrying the prefixed conjunction vi- ("and") to form vihudah ("and Judah").

What the text says

The Hebrew presents four names in sequence: Re'uven, Shim'on, Levi, and Vihudah. The first three names are placed side by side with no connecting word between them — a simple asyndetic list. Only before the fourth and final name does the conjunction vi- ("and", H9002) appear, attached directly to Yehudah ("Judah", H3063) as a prefix, producing the single word vihudah. This pattern, where a list of items lacks internal conjunctions except before the last member, is a common structural feature in Biblical Hebrew enumerations: it signals to the reader that the list is complete once the conjunction appears.

Grammatically, the verse consists solely of proper nouns functioning in apposition to the noun phrase introduced in the prior verse (the "sons of Israel"). There is no verb, and no other syntactic elements are present. The verse's function is purely enumerative, continuing a genealogical list that spans multiple verses.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew list of three unconjoined names followed by one conjoined name (Re'uven, Shim'on, Levi, vihudah) is rendered differently across versions in terms of punctuation and conjunction placement. The LXX (Ῥουβήν, Συμεών, Λευεί, Ἰούδας) and the Vulgate (Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judas) both present all four names as a simple comma-separated list without any conjunction at all, even before the last name. The Spanish RV1909 and SBLIBRE, as well as the English BSB, restore a conjunction ("y"/"and") before the final name, matching the Hebrew's placement of vi- ("and", H9002) only before Yehudah ("Judah", H3063).