Numbers 26:44
בְּנֵי אָשֵׁר לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְיִמְנָה מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיִּמְנָה לְיִשְׁוִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיִּשְׁוִי לִבְרִיעָה מִשְׁפַּחַת הַבְּרִיעִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
בְּנֵ֣י אָשֵׁר֮ לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ לְיִמְנָ֗ה מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ הַיִּמְנָ֔ה לְיִשְׁוִ֕י מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַיִּשְׁוִ֑י לִבְרִיעָ֕ה מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַבְּרִיעִֽי׃
καὶ ἐγένοντο οἱ υἱοὶ βάλε ᾿Αδὰρ καὶ Νοεμανεί.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Filii Aser per cognationes suas: Jemna, a quo familia Jemnaitarum: Jessui, a quo familia Jessuitarum: Brie, a quo familia Brieitarum.
Los descendientes de Aser, por clanes, fueron: de Imna, el clan de los imnitas; de Isúi, el clan de los isuitas; de Beriá, el clan de los beriítas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Los hijos de Aser por sus familias: de Imna, la familia de los Imnaitas; de Issui, la familia de los Issuitas; de Beria, la familia de los Beriaitas.
These were the descendants of Asher by their clans: The Imnite clan from Imnah, the Ishvite clan from Ishvi, and the Beriite clan from Beriah.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse lists the descendants of Asher organized by clan (mishpachah, H4940): the Imnah clan, the Ishvi clan, and the Beriah clan, each named after an eponymous ancestor whose name is followed by its corresponding gentilic (clan-name) form.
Key words
- be.Nei ("[the] descendants of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct, opening the verse as a genealogical heading, "sons/descendants of X."
- mishpechotam — built from mishpachah ("clans", H4940) plus the pronominal suffix -am ("their", H9028), meaning "their clans," anchoring the list to Asher's line specifically.
- Yimnah (H3232G) — proper name of a person, followed immediately by the definite gentilic ha-Yimnah ("the Imnahite[s]"), showing the shift from ancestor-name to clan-name.
- mishpachat ha-Yishvi — construct chain "clan of the Ishvite[s]" (H4940 + H9009 + H3441), repeating the pattern: preposition le- + personal name, then mishpachat ha- + gentilic.
- ha-Beri'i ("Beriahite[s]", H1284) — masculine singular gentilic with definite article, closing the third clan unit in the same syntactic pattern as the previous two.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is a genealogical list built entirely on construct chains and repeated syntactic units. It opens with be.Nei Asher le-mishpechotam, "the descendants of Asher, by their clans" (literally "to their clans"), which functions as a heading. After this heading, the text gives three parallel units, each following the same pattern: the preposition le- ("of/belonging to") + a personal name (Yimnah, Yishvi, Beriah), followed by mishpachat ha- + the corresponding gentilic form of that same name (ha-Yimnah, ha-Yishvi, ha-Beri'i). This structure links each ancestor directly to the clan bearing his name, using the definite article on the gentilic to mark it as a fixed group designation rather than a simple adjective.
No verbs appear in the entire verse; the list is built purely through nominal construct phrases, which is typical of Hebrew genealogical registers. The repetition of mishpachat ha- + gentilic three times creates a rhythmic, formulaic structure that catalogs subgroups without narrative elaboration.
Differences between versions
The Vulgate (Jemna... Jessui... Brie...) and the Spanish versions (RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew structure closely, naming the same three ancestors and their clans. The LXX text provided here (Βάλε, ᾿Αδὰρ, Νοεμανεί) does not correspond to the same names found in the Hebrew for this verse — it presents a different set of proper names ("sons of Bale, Adar, and Noemanei") rather than Imnah, Ishvi, and Beriah, indicating the LXX text supplied here diverges substantially in content from the Hebrew list at this verse.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.