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The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum—the descendants of Bilhah.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
bə·nê nap̄·tā·lî ya·ḥă·ṣî·’êl wə·ḡū·nî wə·yê·ṣer wə·šal·lūm bə·nê ḇil·hāh
Word by word8 · parsed
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son, as builder of the family name The verse opens with a construct plural, not an absolute: bə·nê is "sons-of," a word that cannot stand alone but must lean on the name that follows. Strong's gloss already stretches the root across literal and figurative relation, grandson, subject, nation, even quality or condition, which is why the same form can head a list of great-grandsons without strain.
√ Naphtâlîy — Naphtali, a son of Jacob, with the tribe descended from him, and its territoryNounpropermasculine singular
Naphtâlîy: Naphtali, a son of Jacob, with the tribe descended from him, and its territory One proper noun holding a man, a people and a land at once. Pulpit records the tribe at fifty-three thousand four hundred fighting men in the Sinai census and forty-five thousand four hundred at the close of the wilderness, and notes that its northern, largely mountainous territory became the district later called Galilee. The genealogist writes a name; the geography of the gospels is already inside it.
√ Yachtsîyʼêl — Jachtsiel, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Yachtsîyʼêl: Jachtsiel, an Israelite A theophoric name, built on ʼêl, God, so that a bare entry in a tribal roll still carries a confession in it. K&D states plainly that Genesis 46:24 has יחצאל instead, and Cambridge sets Jahziel against Jahzeel. The Chronicler is not correcting Moses and not pretending the forms agree; he copies the roll as it reached him, and the difference stands in the text to this day.
√ Gûwnîy — Guni, the name of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Gûwnîy: Guni, the name of two Israelites Conjunctive waw with a rare name: Strong's itself notes that two Israelites bear it, and the Verifier finds the lexeme in only four verses of the whole canon (this one, Genesis 46:24, Numbers 26:48, and 1 Chronicles 5:15, where the Guni belongs to Gad, not Naphtali). Scarcity makes the first two a real verbal tie and the third a trap.
√ Yêtser — Jetser, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Yêtser: Jetser, an Israelite The rarest lexeme in the verse, standing in only three verses of Scripture: here, Genesis 46:24, and Numbers 26:49. That scarcity is the whole strength of the link to those two lists. A common word shared between passages proves little; a name this rare, in the same order, in the same tribe, is a verbal tie that can be weighed rather than merely felt.
√ Shallûwm — Shallum, the name of fourteen IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Shallûwm: Shallum, the name of fourteen Israelites Strong's counts fourteen men called Shallum, so the name by itself identifies no one; only the list around it does. JFB and Gill both note the parallel form Shillem at Genesis 46:24, and K&D specifies the consonants, שׁלּם there against שׁלּוּם here, a difference of one vowel letter carried across a thousand years of copying.
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son The second occurrence of H1121, now in construct with a woman's name. Benson, Poole, Gill and JFB agree the sense must be grandsons, since Naphtali the father of these four was himself Bilhah's son. The Hebrew does not say grandsons; it says sons, and trusts the reader to count generations.
√ Bilhâh — Bilhah, the name of one of Jacob's concubinesNounproperfeminine singular
Bilhâh: Bilhah, one of Jacob's concubines The verse ends on the handmaid, not on Jacob, and that is the Chronicler's decision. Ellicott observes that Dan and Naphtali were both her sons, yet refuses to conclude from this closing phrase that Dan is in view here; Henry notes that Dan and Zebulun are simply absent from the chapter and offers the tribe's later idolatry at Laish as the reason he can give. The register keeps the servant woman's name in the line of Israel without apology or explanation.