Numbers 26:20
וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵי־יְהוּדָה לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְשֵׁלָה מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשֵּׁלָנִי לְפֶרֶץ מִשְׁפַּחַת הַפַּרְצִי לְזֶרַח מִשְׁפַּחַת הַזַּרְחִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּהְי֣וּ בְנֵי־יְהוּדָה֮ לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ לְשֵׁלָ֗ה מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ הַשֵּׁ֣לָנִ֔י לְפֶ֕רֶץ מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַפַּרְצִ֑י לְזֶ֕רַח מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַזַּרְחִֽי׃
τῷ ᾿Ιασούβ, δῆμος ᾿Ιασουβεί· τῷ Σαμαβάμ, δῆμος ὁ Σαμαβρανεί.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Fueruntque filii Juda per cognationes suas: Sela, a quo familia Selaitarum: Phares, a quo familia Pharesitarum: Zare, a quo familia Zareitarum.
Los descendientes de Judá, por clanes, fueron: de Selá, el clan de los selanitas; de Fares, el clan de los faresitas; de Zera, el clan de los zeraítas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y fueron los hijos de Judá por sus familias: de Sela, la familia de los Selaitas; de Phares, la familia de los Pharesitas; de Zera, la familia de los Zeraitas.
These were the descendants of Judah by their clans: The Shelanite clan from Shelah, the Perezite clan from Perez, and the Zerahite clan from Zerah.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse lists the descendants of Judah organized by clan, naming three sons — Shelah, Perez, and Zerah — each of whom gives his name to a corresponding clan (the Shelahites, the Perezites, and the Zerahites).
Key words
- va-yihyu ("and they were", H1961) — narrative vav plus qal verb, opening the census formula and marking continuation of the list from preceding verses.
- benei ("descendants of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct, linking directly to Yehudah to form "sons/descendants of Judah."
- mishpechotam ("their clans", H4940 + H9028) — feminine plural noun with third-person plural suffix, establishing that what follows is organized by clan-group.
- mishpachat ha-Shelani ("the clan of the Shelahite", H4940 + H8024) — construct noun plus gentilic adjective with definite article, a repeated pattern applied to each son.
- ha-Zarchi ("the Zerahite", H2227) — gentilic form with article, structurally identical to the two preceding gentilics, closing the triad.
What the text says
The verse follows a fixed formulaic structure typical of the Numbers 26 census: an opening clause (va-yihyu benei Yehudah le-mishpechotam, "and the descendants of Judah were, by their clans") followed by three parallel units, each built as le-X mishpachat ha-Y, "belonging to X, the clan of the Y-ite." The preposition le (H9005) recurs before each personal name (Shelah, Perez, Zerah), marking possession or derivation — the clan "belongs to" or "derives from" that ancestor. Each unit then names the clan using the construct noun mishpachat ("clan of") followed by a gentilic noun formed with the definite article and the -i suffix (ha-Shelani, ha-Partzi, ha-Zarchi), a standard Hebrew pattern for deriving a group name from a personal name.
The three-part structure is perfectly symmetrical in Hebrew, repeating the same syntactic frame three times with only the names changing. This repetition is a scribal/administrative device suited to census records, emphasizing systematic enumeration rather than narrative variation.
Differences between versions
The Septuagint text given (Swete) shows different names — Iasoub and Samabam — rather than Shelah, Perez, and Zerah found in the Hebrew, Vulgate, and Spanish/English translations. This reflects a divergence in the Greek witness at this verse compared to the Hebrew textual tradition reflected in the other versions cited, which agree closely in listing Shelah, Perez, and Zerah as the three sons of Judah.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.