Genesis 46:13

Summary

This verse lists the four sons of Issachar (Yissaskar, H3485G) as part of the genealogical record of Jacob's descendants who went to Egypt: Tola, Puah, Yov, and Shimron. The structure is a simple genitive construction followed by a list of proper names.

Key words

• bene ("sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct noun, establishing the genealogical relationship "sons of X," governing the following proper name Yissaskar.
• Tola' ("Tola", H8439G) — proper name, first son listed, in apposition to bene Yissaskar.
• Puvah ("Puah", H6312G) — proper name, second son, joined to the previous by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).
• Yov ("Iob", H3102) — proper name, third son, joined by ve ("and", H9002).
• Shimron ("Shimron", H8110B) — proper name, fourth and final son in the list, joined by ve ("and", H9002).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built entirely on the construct chain u-vene Yissaskar ("and the sons of Issachar"), where bene (H1121A) is a construct-state plural noun requiring a following genitive — here the proper name Yissaskar (H3485G). This construct phrase functions as the subject of an implicit predicate; the four names that follow (Tola, Puah, Yov, Shimron) are simply listed in apposition, each linked by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) except the first, which follows directly after the name Yissaskar without a connector. This paratactic listing style, typical of Hebrew genealogical records, presents the names as a flat enumeration rather than embedding them in a verbal clause.

The repeated ve conjunctions (H9002) before Puah, Yov, and Shimron create a rhythmic chain typical of these Genesis genealogical lists, distinguishing this verse structurally from narrative prose elsewhere in the chapter.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text names the third and fourth sons as Yov ("Iob", H3102) and Shimron ("Shimron", H8110B). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew closely, rendering these as "Job" and "Semron." However, the LXX (Swete edition) diverges significantly here, giving Ἰασοὺφ (Iasouph) for the third name and Ζαμβράμ (Zambram) for the fourth, rather than transliterations corresponding to Yov and Shimron. The first two names, Tola and Puah, are rendered consistently across the Hebrew, LXX (Θωλὰ, Φουὰ), and Vulgate (Thola, Phua).