Numbers 26:39
לִשְׁפוּפָם מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשּׁוּפָמִי לְחוּפָם מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחוּפָמִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
לִשְׁפוּפָ֕ם מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַשּׁוּפָמִ֑י לְחוּפָ֕ם מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַחוּפָמִֽי׃
καὶ οὗτοι υἱοὶ Ἐφράιμ· τῷ Σουτάλα, δῆμος ὁ Σουταλαεί· τῷ Τάναχ, δῆμος ὁ Ταναχεί.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Supham, a quo familia Suphamitarum: Hupham, a quo familia Huphamitarum.
de Sefufán, el clan de los sefufamitas; de Hufam, el clan de los hufamitas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
De Supham, la familia de los Suphamitas; de Hupham, la familia de los Huphamitas.
the Shuphamite clan from Shupham, and the Huphamite clan from Hupham.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 26:39 records two clan names within a tribal genealogy: Shupham and Hupham, each introduced with the preposition "of/belonging to" and followed by the formula "clan of the [gentilic]." The verse structure simply pairs an ancestor's name with the corresponding clan designation derived from it.
Key words
li ("of/belonging to", H9005) — the preposition attached to Shufam, marking the ancestor to whom the clan traces its lineage; this construction ("to PN, clan of...") is the standard formula used throughout the Numbers 26 census list.
mishpachat ("clan of", H4940) — a feminine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by another noun to complete its meaning ("clan of X"); it appears twice, once for each named ancestor.
ha-Shufami ("the Shuphamite", H7781) — a gentilic noun (a noun denoting membership in a people or clan), formed from the name Shupham with the definite article ha (H9009) prefixed; gentilics in Hebrew typically end in -i and denote "belonging to the group of X."
Chufam ("Hupham", H2349) — the second ancestor's proper name, introduced by the same preposition le (H9005, a form of li) used for Shupham.
ha-Chufami ("the Huphamite", H2350) — the gentilic form corresponding to Chufam, structurally identical to ha-Shufami.
What the text says
The Hebrew verse is built entirely on a repeated formula: [preposition] + [ancestor's name] + mishpachat ("clan of") + [definite article] + [gentilic noun]. This pattern appears twice in the verse, first for Shupham and then for Hupham. The construct relationship signaled by mishpachat ties the abstract noun "clan" to the specific gentilic that follows, producing the sense "the clan of the Shuphamites" and "the clan of the Huphamites." The gentilic forms (ha-Shufami, ha-Chufami) are grammatically distinct from the personal names (Shufam, Chufam) themselves — the gentilic marks the collective group of descendants, while the bare name marks the individual ancestor. This distinction, visible in Hebrew through the -i suffix and definite article, is often flattened in translation, where "Shupham" and "the Shuphamite clan" may look nearly identical in English.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew text names Shupham and Hupham, and the Vulgate (Supham... Huphamitarum; Hupham... Huphamitarum) and English/Spanish translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) closely follow this naming. The LXX (Swete text), however, presents entirely different names — Soutala and Tanach — and attributes them to "the sons of Ephraim" rather than continuing the line associated with Shupham/Hupham in the Hebrew. This represents a substantial divergence in both the proper names and the tribal attribution between the Hebrew textual tradition and this Greek witness.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.