Numbers 26:29
בְּנֵי מְנַשֶּׁה לְמָכִיר מִשְׁפַּחַת הַמָּכִירִי וּמָכִיר הוֹלִיד אֶת־גִּלְעָד לְגִלְעָד מִשְׁפַּחַת הַגִּלְעָדִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
בְּנֵ֣י מְנַשֶּׁ֗ה לְמָכִיר֙ מִשְׁפַּ֣חַת הַמָּכִירִ֔י וּמָכִ֖יר הוֹלִ֣יד אֶת־גִּלְעָ֑ד לְגִלְעָ֕ד מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַגִּלְעָדִֽי׃
τῷ Χόβερ, δῆμος ὁ τῶ Μελλιήλ, δῆμος ὁ Μελλιηλεί.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
De Manasse ortus est Machir, a quo familia Machiritarum. Machir genuit Galaad, a quo familia Galaaditarum.
Los descendientes de Manasés: de Maquir, el clan de los maquiritas. Maquir fue el padre de Galaad; y de Galaad proviene el clan de los galaaditas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Los hijos de Manasés: de Machîr, la familia de los Machîritas; y Machîr engendró á Galaad; de Galaad, la familia de los Galaaditas.
These were the descendants of Manasseh: The Machirite clan from Machir, the father of Gilead, and the Gileadite clan from Gilead.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse lists descendants of Manasseh through the line of Makir, stating that the clan bearing his name comes from him, and that Makir fathered Gilead, from whom in turn the Gileadite clan derives its name. The structure establishes a genealogical chain: Manasseh → Makir → Gilead, each generating a named clan.
Key words
- be.Nei ("[the] descendants of", H1121) — construct plural noun opening the verse, linking the whole list to Manasseh as the ancestral head.
- Ma.khir ("Makir", H4353) — proper name appearing twice, first as the clan's namesake (with preposition le-, "of/belonging to Makir") and later as subject of the verb ho.Lid.
- ma.khi.Ri ("Makirite[s]", H4354) — gentilic form with definite article ha-, denoting the clan collectively rather than an individual.
- ho.Lid ("he fathered", H3205) — Hiphil perfect verb, a causative form indicating Makir as the one who brought Gilead into being; the perfect aspect marks this as a completed, reported event.
- gil.'a.Di ("Gileadite[s]", H1569) — second gentilic, parallel in form to ma.khi.Ri, marking the clan descended from Gilead.
What the text says
The verse is built on two parallel clauses, each following the same pattern: a personal name introduced with the preposition le- ("of/belonging to"), followed by mish.Pa.chat ("[the] clan of", H4940) in construct state, and then the gentilic form of the name with the definite article. This repeated structure — le-X mishpachat ha-X-i — shows how an individual's name becomes the basis for a clan designation: "of Makir, the clan of the Makirite" and "of Gilead, the clan of the Gileadite." The construct noun mish.Pa.chat links directly to the gentilic that follows it, so the clan is defined by descent rather than by an independent noun.
Between these two parallel formulas sits the narrative link: u-Ma.khir ho.Lid et-Gil.'ad ("and Makir fathered Gilead"), using the Hiphil verb ho.Lid with the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) before the personal name Gilead. This clause explains the genealogical connection assumed by the two clan-formulas surrounding it — Makir's clan and Gilead's clan are related because Gilead was fathered by Makir. The Hebrew thus presents clan identity and paternity together, using the same root names for both the ancestor and the collective group descended from him.
Differences between versions
The Vulgate and Spanish translations (RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew structure closely, naming Machir/Maquir and Galaad/Gilead and their respective clans. The Septuagint text provided (Χόβερ, Μελλιήλ) does not correspond to the names Makir or Gilead found in the Hebrew text; the LXX witness cited here diverges entirely in the proper names used for this verse.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.