Genesis 46:10

Summary

The verse lists the sons of Simeon by name — Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, and Zohar — and adds Shaul, specifying that his mother was a Canaanite woman. It is a genealogical notice within the larger list of Jacob's descendants who went to Egypt.

Key words

• ve.Nei ("[the] sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct form, opening the list and linking it grammatically to Shim'on ("Simeon", H8095G); the construct state marks a possessive relationship, "sons belonging to Simeon."
• ben- ("[the] son", H1121A) — same root as ve.Nei but singular construct, used specifically for Sha'ul ("Shaul", H7586H), isolating him with an added identifier not given to his brothers.
• ha. ("the", H9009) — definite article prefixed to Kena'anit, marking the woman as a specific, known Canaanite rather than an indefinite one.
• Kena'anit ("Canaanite [woman]", H3669G) — feminine singular gentilic noun; the feminine form specifies that the referent is a woman of Canaanite origin, distinguishing her from the male gentilic form.
• u. / ve. ("and", H9002) — the repeated conjunction links each name in a simple additive chain, a typical structure for enumerative genealogical lists in this text.

What the text says

The verse follows a fixed pattern: the construct phrase u-ve.nei Shim'on ("and the sons of Simeon") governs the list of proper names that follows, each joined by the conjunction ve. ("and"). Five names — Yemu'el, Yamin, 'Ohad, Yakhin, Tzochar — appear without further qualification. The sixth name, Sha'ul, breaks the pattern: instead of simply being added with ve., he receives an appositional phrase, ben ha-Kena'anit ("son of the Canaanite [woman]"), using the singular construct ben rather than repeating the plural ve.nei. This construction singles out Shaul's maternal origin as a piece of information attached specifically to him, not to the other brothers, and the definite article on Kena'anit suggests she is treated as a specific, identifiable person within the underlying narrative context rather than a generic reference to ethnicity.

The grammatical shift from a flat list of names to a construct phrase with an appositive is the notable feature: it grammatically marks Shaul as distinct from his brothers by attaching a genealogical qualifier absent from the other entries.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sixth name as Samouēl ("Samuel") where the Hebrew has Sha'ul ("Shaul", H7586H); the Vulgate follows the Hebrew tradition with Saul. The LXX also gives Iacheim for the Hebrew Yakhin (H3199G) and Saar for Tzochar (H6714H), showing transliteration variants of the same names across the Greek and Hebrew textual traditions. The Vulgate's Chanaanitidis corresponds directly to the Hebrew ha-Kena'anit, preserving the feminine gentilic form with the definite article implied.