Genesis 25:13

וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׁמָעֵאל בִּשְׁמֹתָם לְתוֹלְדֹתָם בְּכֹר יִשְׁמָעֵאל נְבָיֹת וְקֵדָר וְאַדְבְּאֵל וּמִבְשָֽׂם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׁמָעֵ֔אל בִּשְׁמֹתָ֖ם לְתוֹלְדֹתָ֑ם בְּכֹ֤ר יִשְׁמָעֵאל֙ נְבָיֹ֔ת וְקֵדָ֥ר וְאַדְבְּאֵ֖ל וּמִבְשָֽׂם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα σμαὴλ κατ’ ὄνομα τῶν γενεῶν αὐτοῦ· πρωτότοκος Ἱσμαὴλ Ναβαιώθ, καὶ Κηδὰρ καὶ Ναβδεὴλ καὶ ασσὰμ

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

hæc nomina filiorum ejus in vocabulis et generationibus suis. Primogenitus Ismaëlis Nabaioth, deinde Cedar, et Adbeel, et Mabsam,

Spanish

Éstos son los nombres de los hijos de Ismael, en orden de nacimiento: el primogénito fue Nebaiot; luego nacieron Cedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Estos, pues, son los nombres de los hijos de Ismael, por sus nombres, por sus linajes: El primogénito de Ismael, Nabaioth; luego Cedar, y Abdeel, y Mibsam,

English

These are the names of the sons of Ishmael in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

✦ What the text says

Summary

Genesis 25:13 introduces a list of Ishmael's sons, stating that these are their names according to their genealogical order. The verse names the first four: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, and Mibsam, identifying Nebaioth explicitly as the firstborn.

Key words

shemot ("[the] names of", H8034) — feminine plural construct noun, appearing twice in the verse (once in position 3, once in position 7 as shmotam), linking the list to the persons named.
bene ("[the] sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct, forms the genitive chain "names of the sons of Ishmael."
le-toldotam ("to their descendants/generations", H8435 + H9028) — construct noun with pronominal suffix and prefixed preposition le ("to", H9005), indicating the arrangement of the list "according to" their generational order.
bekhor ("[the] firstborn of", H1060) — masculine singular construct, syntactically links directly to Yishma'el ("Ishmael", H3458G) to specify Nebaioth's birth-order status.
ve ("and", H9002) — conjunction repeated three times (positions 15, 17, 19) coordinating the successive names in the list.

What the text says

The verse opens with the demonstrative 'Elleh ("these", H428) followed by the construct chain shemot bene Yishma'el ("names of the sons of Ishmael"), establishing the list as a formal genealogical record. The phrase bi-shemotam le-toldotam ("by their names, to/according to their generations") uses two nouns in construct with pronominal suffixes (-am, "their", H9028) to specify that the list follows a particular organizing principle — the names are presented in relation to their toldot ("generations/descendants", H8435), a term used elsewhere in Genesis to mark genealogical sequences.

The second clause begins with bekhor Yishma'el ("firstborn of Ishmael", H1060 + H3458G), a construct phrase that grammatically marks Nebaioth as holding the status of firstborn among Ishmael's sons. This is followed by three additional names — Kedar, Adbeel, and Mibsam — each introduced by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), producing a simple paratactic list structure typical of genealogical enumerations in the Hebrew text.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the second occurrence of "Ishmael" (position 5) as Σμαήλ rather than repeating the full form Ἰσμαήλ used later in the verse for bekhor Yishma'el. The LXX also spells the third name as Ναβδεήλ where the Hebrew has 'Adbe'el (H110) and the Vulgate has Adbeel — a divergence in the rendering of this proper name. The Vulgate (Clementine) reads Mabsam for the fourth name, where the Hebrew has Mivsam (H4017G) and the LXX has ασσάμ.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.