Numbers 26:12
בְּנֵי שִׁמְעוֹן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לִנְמוּאֵל מִשְׁפַּחַת הַנְּמוּאֵלִי לְיָמִין מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיָּמִינִי לְיָכִין מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיָּכִינִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
בְּנֵ֣י שִׁמְעוֹן֮ לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ לִנְמוּאֵ֗ל מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ הַנְּמ֣וּאֵלִ֔י לְיָמִ֕ין מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַיָּמִינִ֑י לְיָכִ֕ין מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַיָּכִינִֽי׃
Καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Συμεών· ὁ δῆμος τῶν υἱῶν Ναμουήλ, δῆμος ὁ Ναμουηλεί· τῷ ᾿Ιαμείν, δῆμος ὁ ᾿Ιαμινεί. τῷ δῆμος ὁ ᾿Ιαχινεί·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Filii Simeon per cognationes suas: Namuel, ab hoc familia Namuelitarum: Jamin, ab hoc familia Jaminitarum: Jachin, ab hoc familia Jachinitarum:
Los descendientes de Simeón, por clanes, fueron: de Nemuel, el clan de los nemuelitas; de Jamín, el clan de los jaminitas; de Jaquín, el clan de los jaquinitas;
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Los hijos de Simeón por sus familias: de Nemuel, la familia de los Nemuelitas; de Jamín, la familia de los Jaminitas; de Jachîn, la familia de los Jachînitas;
These were the descendants of Simeon by their clans: The Nemuelite clan from Nemuel, the Jaminite clan from Jamin, the Jachinite clan from Jachin,
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse opens the census list of the tribe of Simeon, organizing its population by clans. It names three sons of Simeon — Nemuel, Jamin, and Jakin — and for each one states the corresponding clan named after him.
Key words
- be.nei ("descendants of", H1121G) — construct plural of "sons", linking the tribe name Simeon to its subdivisions.
- mishpechotam ("their clans", H4940 + H9028) — feminine plural noun with a possessive suffix "their," indicating the clan-structure belongs to the sons of Simeon collectively.
- mishpachat ("clan of", H4940) — feminine singular construct, repeated three times, each time introducing the clan named after a specific ancestor.
- ha-Nemu'eli ("the Nemuelite", H5242) — gentilic noun with definite article, denoting the collective clan-members descended from Nemuel, not the person Nemuel himself.
- li-Nemu'el ("of Nemuel", H5241H + le-) — proper name with prefixed preposition le ("to/of"), marking the person from whom the clan derives its name.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built on a repeating formula: a personal name preceded by the preposition le ("of/belonging to"), followed by mishpachat ("clan of") plus a gentilic form of the same name with the definite article ha. This pattern — name, then "clan-of-the-[name]ite" — occurs three times for Nemuel, Jamin, and Jakin, each functioning as a subordinate clause list rather than full sentences with verbs. The construct chain in be.nei Shim'on le-mishpechotam ("sons of Simeon, to/by their clans") sets up the whole verse as a heading: the tribe is divided into clans, and each clan-name is derived from an eponymous ancestor by adding a gentilic suffix (the -i ending, as in ha-Nemu'eli, ha-Yamini, ha-Yakhini).
Grammatically, the construct state (mishpachat, "clan of") functioning three times shows that the noun "clan" is always bound to the following gentilic noun, marking a fixed genitive relationship: "the clan of the Nemuelite [group]." The definite article on the gentilic (ha-) marks it as a specific, known collective group rather than a general description.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the structure slightly differently by using δῆμος ("people/clan") consistently for Hebrew mishpachat, but for the third entry (Jakin) the Greek text as given appears truncated, reading τῷ δῆμος ὁ Ἰαχινεί without repeating the name Ἰαχίν before it, unlike the parallel constructions for Nemuel and Jamin. The Vulgate uses "ab hoc familia...itarum" ("from him the family of the ...ites"), which explicitly supplies the causal relation ("from him") that the Hebrew le leaves more implicit as a simple prepositional label of possession or belonging.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.