Genesis 46:9

Summary

Genesis 46:9 lists the four sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob, by name: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. The verse is part of a longer genealogical list recording the descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt.

Key words

• ve.Nei ("[the] sons of", H1121A) — plural noun in construct state, linking directly to re.'u.Ven ("Reuben", H7205); the construct form signals a possessive relationship ("sons of Reuben") rather than a standalone noun.
• re.'u.Ven ("Reuben", H7205) — proper name marking whose descendants follow; grammatically the item being modified by the construct noun before it.
• cha.Nokh ("Hanoch", H2585J) — proper name, first son listed, introduced without a conjunction, directly following the construct phrase.
• fa.Lu' ("Pallu", H6396) — proper name, second son, joined to the previous name by the conjunction u. ("and", H9002).
• khar.Mi ("Carmi", H3756G) — proper name, fourth and final son, joined by ve. ("and", H9002), closing the list.

What the text says

The verse opens with the construct chain u.ve.Nei re.'u.Ven ("and the sons of Reuben"), a standard genealogical formula in Biblical Hebrew where a plural noun in construct state (ve.Nei) is bound to a personal name (re.'u.Ven) to express possession — "sons belonging to Reuben." This construct construction requires no additional preposition; the relationship is built into the grammatical form itself.

Following this heading phrase, four proper names are listed: cha.Nokh, fa.Lu', khar.Mi, and khetz.Ron (in the sequence Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, Carmi). The first name, cha.Nokh, appears without a preceding conjunction, while each subsequent name is joined by the conjunction ve. or u. ("and", H9002), which alternates in vocalization depending on the sounds that follow it in Hebrew phonology (a common feature of the waw conjunction before certain consonant clusters). This creates a simple additive list structure, typical of genealogical records in the passage, with no verbs and no further grammatical elaboration — the sentence consists entirely of a construct noun phrase followed by a coordinated series of names.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint renders the third name as Ἁσρὼν (Hasrōn) and the second as Φαλλούδ (Phalloud), showing minor transliteration variants compared to the Hebrew khetz.Ron and fa.Lu'. The Vulgate's Hesron and Phallu are closer transliterations to the Hebrew forms. These are differences in how the proper names are transliterated into Greek and Latin phonetic systems, not differences in content or number of names listed.