Genesis 46:24

Summary

The verse lists the four sons of Naphtali who are named as descendants entering Egypt with Jacob's household: Yachtze'el ("Jahzeel", H3183), Guni ("Guni", H1476G), Yetzer ("Jezer", H3337), and Shillem ("Shillem", H8006). It continues the genealogical enumeration structure found throughout Genesis 46.

Key words

• bene ("[the] sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct noun; establishes the genealogical relationship, requiring the following proper name (Naftali) as the one to whom the sons belong.
• Naftali ("Naphtali", H5321G) — proper name in the construct chain, identifying the father whose sons are being listed.
• Yachtze'el ("Jahzeel", H3183) — first son named, a standalone proper noun with no grammatical marking beyond its position in the list.
• Guni ("Guni", H1476G) — second son, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) prefixed directly to the name.
• Shillem ("Shillem", H8006) — final name in the list, also introduced by ve ("and", H9002), closing the enumeration.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built entirely on a construct chain: u-vene Naftali ("and the sons of Naphtali") functions as the head phrase, followed by four proper names in simple apposition. Each name after the first is joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), producing a paratactic list structure typical of Hebrew genealogies — Yachtze'el ve-Guni ve-Yetzer ve-Shillem. There is no verb in the clause; the sentence is nominal, relying on the construct noun bene ("sons of", H1121A) to carry the entire syntactic weight of the statement. This construction is common in the genealogical lists of Genesis 46, where each tribal ancestor's sons are recorded in the same formulaic pattern: conjunction + "sons of" + father's name + list of sons joined by "and."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first name as Ἁσιὴλ (Hasiēl) where the Hebrew has Yachtze'el ("Jahzeel", H3183), and the third name as Ἴσσααρ (Issaar) where the Hebrew has Yetzer ("Jezer", H3337). The Vulgate follows a form closer to the Hebrew for the first name, Jasiel, but also diverges somewhat in spelling from the Masoretic Yachtze'el. The second and fourth names, Guni (H1476G) and Shillem (H8006), are rendered consistently across the Hebrew, LXX (Γωυνὶ, Συλλήμ), and Vulgate (Guni, Sallem) with only minor transliteration variance.