Numbers 13:11

Summary

The verse identifies one of the scouts sent by Moses: he belongs to the tribe of Manasseh, described as a tribe within the larger tribe of Joseph, and his name is given along with his father's name, Gaddi son of Susi.

Key words

• maTteh ("tribe of", H4294H) — masculine singular construct noun, appearing twice, linking each tribal name to the phrase "tribe of X"; the construct form shows it governs the following proper name.
• Yosef ("Joseph", H3130G) — proper name marking the larger ancestral group, here functioning as the encompassing designation before the more specific tribe is named.
• Menasheh ("Manasseh", H4519G) — proper name of the specific tribe, presented as a subdivision "of Joseph."
• ben ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct noun linking the scout's personal name to his father's name, the standard patronymic construction.
• Susi ("Susi", H5485) — proper name of the father, closing the identification formula.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built entirely of construct chains, with no verb, since it continues a list of scouts introduced earlier in the chapter. The double use of le ("for", H9005) before each occurrence of maTteh ("tribe of", H4294H) creates a two-step identification: first the broader tribe, Yosef ("Joseph", H3130G), then the specific one, Menasheh ("Manasseh", H4519G). This nested structure reflects that Manasseh is counted as one of the tribal divisions descended from Joseph, distinguishing it from the tribe of Ephraim, the other Josephite division, which appears elsewhere in the list.

The second half of the verse follows the standard Hebrew naming pattern: personal name plus ben ("son of", H1121A) plus father's name, here Gaddi ("Gaddi", H1426) ben Susi ("Susi", H5485). This construction, common throughout the scout list in Numbers 13, provides identification through patrilineal descent rather than through any narrative action, since the verse contains no finite verb.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text names the tribe as Yosef ("Joseph", H3130G) and Menasheh ("Manasseh", H4519G), with the scout's name as Gaddi ("Gaddi", H1426) ben Susi ("Susi", H5485). The Septuagint (LXXSWETE) instead reads "the tribe of Zabulon," and gives the names as Γουδιὴλ ("Goudiēl") son of Σουδεί ("Soudei"). The Vulgate (VULCLEM) follows the same pattern as the LXX, reading "De tribu Zabulon, Geddiel filium Sodi." Thus both the tribal identity and the personal names differ substantially between the Hebrew tradition and the Greek/Latin traditions represented here. The modern translations given (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew tribal and personal names rather than the LXX/Vulgate readings.