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Numbers26:26–27

The Tribe of Zebulun

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Numbers 26:26–27 — The Tribe of Zebulun. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

26

These were the descendants of Zebulun by their clans: The Seredite clan from Sered, the Elonite clan from Elon, and the Jahleelite clan from Jahleel.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê zə·ḇū·lun lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām has·sar·dî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lə·se·reḏ hā·’ê·lō·nî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lə·’ê·lō·wn hay·yaḥ·lə·’ê·lî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lə·yaḥ·lə·’êl

Word by word12 · parsed
בְּנֵ֣יbə·nê[These were] the descendantsH1121
√ 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
bənê (H1121), "sons of" — masculine plural construct, the recurring hinge of the census formula, repeated tribe by tribe through Numbers 26. The root bānâ, "to build," stands behind the noun: a son is one through whom the house is built up (cf. Genesis 30:3), so the roll of sons is at once a roll of the building of Israel, name laid on name.
זְבוּלֻן֮zə·ḇū·lunof ZebulunH2074
√ Zᵉbûwlûwn — Zebulon, a son of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
Zəḇūlun (H2074), Zebulun — tenth son of Jacob, sixth and last borne by Leah (Genesis 30:20). At his birth Leah names a hope of dwelling: "now my husband will dwell with me (yizbəlēnî)," the verb zāḇal, "to dwell, to exalt," heard inside the name. The wordplay is the text's own (Genesis 30:20), not this tool's. Jacob's blessing later settles the tribe by the sea (Genesis 49:13).
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯāmby their clansH4940
√ mishpâchâh — a family, iPreposition-lNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural
lə-mišpəḥōṯām (H4940), "by their clans" — the mišpāḥâ, the clan, is the unit of reckoning throughout the chapter, standing between the tribe and the father's house.
הַסַּרְדִּ֔יhas·sar·dîThe SerediteH5625
√ Çardîy — a Seredite (collectively) or descendants of SeredArticleNounpropermasculine singular
has-sardî (H5625), the Seredite clan, named for Sered. The personal name Sered (H5624) is exceedingly rare — only two verses in the whole canon (here and Genesis 46:14) — which is precisely why the verbal tie to the Genesis list is decisive rather than coincidental.
מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙miš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940
√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct
לְסֶ֗רֶדlə·se·reḏfrom SeredH5624
√ Çered — Sered, an IsraelitePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
Sered (H5624), the firstborn of Zebulun in Genesis 46:14. The clan list of Numbers 26 names three of his sons against the same three in Genesis; the wilderness muster is the Genesis household grown into clans.
הָאֵלֹנִ֑יhā·’ê·lō·nîthe EloniteH440
√ ʼÊlôwnîy — an Elonite or descendant (collectively) of ElonArticleNounpropermasculine singular
hā-’êlōnî (H440), the Elonite clan, from Elon (H356). The name Elon ("oak / terebinth") recurs across the canon for several distinct men — a Hittite father-in-law of Esau (Genesis 26:34), this Zebulunite, and a later judge of Zebulun (Judges 12:11) — so the bare shared spelling cannot, by itself, prove identity of person.
מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940
√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct
לְאֵל֕וֹןlə·’ê·lō·wnfrom ElonH356
√ ʼÊylôwn — Elon, the name of a place in Palestine, and also of one Hittite, two IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
Elon (H356), second son of Zebulun (Genesis 46:14), here the eponym of the Elonite clan.
הַיַּחְלְאֵלִֽי׃hay·yaḥ·lə·’ê·lî[and] the JahleeliteH3178
√ Yachlᵉʼêlîy — a Jachleelite or descendant of JachleelArticleNounpropermasculine singular
hay-yaḥlə’êlî (H3178), the Jahleelite clan, from Jahleel (H3177) — a name as rare as Sered's, only two verses canon-wide. The name carries a confession in its consonants, often read "God waits" or "may God be gracious / hope toward God," though Scripture itself offers no gloss.
מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940
√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct
לְיַ֨חְלְאֵ֔לlə·yaḥ·lə·’êlfrom JahleelH3177
√ Yachlᵉʼêl — Jachleel, an IsraelitePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
Jahleel (H3177), third son of Zebulun in Genesis 46:14, the last of the three eponyms; with Sered and Elon he completes the threefold clan-list that matches the patriarchal record exactly.
27

These were the clans of Zebulun, and their registration numbered 60,500.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’êl·leh miš·pə·ḥōṯ haz·zə·ḇū·lō·nî lip̄·qu·ḏê·hem šiš·šîm ’e·lep̄ wa·ḥă·mêš mê·’ō·wṯ

Word by word8 · parsed
אֵ֛לֶּה’êl·lehThese [were]H428
√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural
’ēlleh (H428), "these" — common-plural demonstrative, the recurring seal of each tribal paragraph: the list opens with bənê ("sons of") and closes with ’ēlleh ("these are").
מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥תmiš·pə·ḥōṯthe clansH4940
√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine plural construct
mišpəḥōṯ (H4940), "the clans" — feminine plural construct of mišpāḥâ; the same word that headed the verse-26 roll now gathers all three clans into one summed tribe.
הַזְּבוּלֹנִ֖יhaz·zə·ḇū·lō·nîof ZebulunH2075
√ Zᵉbûwlônîy — a Zebulonite or descendant of ZebulunArticleNounpropermasculine singular
haz-zəḇūlōnî (H2075), "the Zebulunite" — the gentilic, distinct in Strong's from the patriarch's name Zebulun (H2074); the tribe is now spoken of as a living people, not merely as Jacob's son.
לִפְקֻדֵיהֶ֑םlip̄·qu·ḏê·hemand their registration numberedH6485
√ pâqad — to visit (with friendly or hostile intent)Preposition-lVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
li-p̄qudêhem (H6485), Qal passive participle of pāqaḏ, "to muster, to visit." The "numbered ones" are those whom the LORD has visited by the census; the verb's wider range (to appoint, to punish, to care for) makes the muster an act of covenant attention, not bare bookkeeping.
שִׁשִּׁ֥יםšiš·šîm. . . 60,500H8346
√ shishshîym — sixtyNumbercommon plural
šiššîm (H8346), "sixty" — the first of four number-words spelled out in full; the Hebrew tallies the figure aloud rather than abbreviating.
אֶ֖לֶף’e·lep̄. . .H505
√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular
’elep̄ (H505), "thousand" — the same word can mean a clan-unit or contingent, a known crux in the census numbers; here it stands plainly as the numeral thousand.
וַחֲמֵ֥שׁwa·ḥă·mêš. . .H2568
√ châmêsh — fiveConjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct
מֵאֽוֹת׃סmê·’ō·wṯ. . .H3967
√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural
mē’ōwṯ (H3967), "hundreds" — closing the count at 60,500. Compared with the first census (Numbers 1:31), where Zebulun stood at 57,400, the tribe has grown by 3,100; among the tribes that increased while others fell, Zebulun's gain quietly testifies to the LORD's faithfulness in the wilderness.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Three clans, named from Genesis — 26

The unit is a fragment of a ledger: the tribe of Zebulun inside the second wilderness census, taken on the plains of Moab a generation after Sinai. Three clans answer to three sons — Sered, Elon, Jahleel — each introduced by the same Hebrew construct, bənê (H1121), "sons of," and each named as a gentilic before its eponym: has-sardî, "the Seredite," then lə-sereḏ, "of Sered." The BSB's "The Seredite clan from Sered" reads the order English prefers; the Hebrew foregrounds the living clan and lets the father follow as its root. Keil & Delitzsch name the load-bearing fact plainly: "The families of Zebulun correspond to the sons named in Genesis 46:14." The Pulpit Commentary says the same in three words, "As in Genesis 46:14." This is not a vague impression. The names Sered (H5624) and Jahleel (H3177) occur in only two verses each across the entire canon — here and in that Genesis list — so the correspondence is a rare verbal tie, not a chance overlap of common words. The wilderness muster is the household of Genesis 46 grown into clans.

ii. The number that confesses — 27

The section closes the way every tribal section in the chapter closes — ’ēlleh (H428), "these," then the muster. But the verse first shifts its noun: from the patriarch Zebulun (H2074) in v. 26 to the gentilic haz-zəḇūlōnî (H2075), "the Zebulunite," the people-name. Their pəqudîm, their "numbered ones" — the word pāqaḏ (H6485), "to visit, to muster" — come to 60,500, counted out aloud across four Hebrew number-words rather than printed as a figure. John Gill records the place and the gain: Zebulun "was encamped under the standard of Judah; it consisted of three families, whose numbers were 60,500, so that this tribe was increased 3100." Matthew Poole sets the totals side by side: "Whereas before they were but 57,400 in Numbers 1:31 … So that Judah's camp was much increased, as Reuben's was much diminished." Matthew Henry, surveying the whole chapter, adds that "the total was nearly the same as when numbered at mount Sinai" — the generation that died in the wilderness has been replaced, name for name, by one no smaller.

iii. Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool's own fallible reading (⚙) — 26–27

Held against the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, two things stand out in this short list — offered to be tested, not trusted. First: the clan-names are kept because the promise is kept. A muster of Zebulun exists only because the seed of Abraham is being counted into the land it was sworn (Genesis 13:16; 22:17), and the three names match Genesis 46 exactly — the same three sons, now three thousand-strong clans. Second: the rising number is itself a confession. Zebulun gained 3,100 over the first census while Reuben fell; the same chapter that records judgment on the rebel generation records, in the very same form, the LORD's faithful increase of those He preserved. To read a census faithfully is to hear God keeping His word one clan at a time — and to let a falling total preach His justice as plainly as a rising one preaches His mercy.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

This list looks like the dead space between stories; it is in fact the story told in the one form a promise of innumerable seed can finally be checked against — a count. Three names carried unchanged from Genesis 46 to the plains of Moab are three small proofs that the God who swore to Jacob did not lose a single clan across four hundred years and a forty-year judgment in the wilderness. The 3,100 added to Zebulun is not an accountant's footnote; it is mercy, set in the same ledger and the same verb (pāqaḏ, "to visit") that elsewhere records wrath. Read so, a genealogy is not an interruption in revelation — it is revelation, in arithmetic. Test this against the text; keep only what the words will bear.

Three names unchanged from Genesis to Moab are three proofs the LORD lost no clan — that line is this tool's reading, not a verse.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The clans of Zebulun and the sons of Genesis 46 — household into clans verbal / quotation — confirmed

The three clans of Numbers 26 — Seredite, Elonite, Jahleelite — are the three sons of Zebulun listed at Jacob's descent into Egypt: "the sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel" (Genesis 46:14). Keil & Delitzsch and the Pulpit Commentary both anchor the verse here. The Verifier records rare shared lexemes — Sered (H5624) and Jahleel (H3177) occur in only two verses each canon-wide — so this is a genuine low-frequency verbal correspondence, not common vocabulary. The wilderness muster reproduces the patriarchal roll exactly.

Genesis 46:14

basis: Rare shared lexemes: H5624 Çered (in only 2 vv canon-wide) and H3177 Yachlᵉʼêl (in only 2 vv), plus H356 ʼÊylôwn (7 vv) and H2074 Zᵉbûwlûwn (43 vv). The two clan-father names Sered and Jahleel appear nowhere else in Scripture except here and Genesis 46:14, making this a decisive verbal tie rather than shared common terms — Verifier-confirmed.

The two musters of Zebulun — Sinai to Moab structural / thematic — confirmed

At the first census Zebulun numbered 57,400 (Numbers 1:31); here at the second it stands at 60,500, a gain of 3,100. Matthew Poole places the figures side by side and reads Judah's whole camp — under whose standard Zebulun marched — as increasing while Reuben's diminished. Both verses share the census framing verb pāqaḏ (H6485, "to muster") and the tribal name Zebulun (H2074), with the same structure and purpose. These are common census terms, so the link is tiered structural/thematic rather than verbal.

Numbers 1:31 · Numbers 1:30

basis: Shared framing lexemes H6485 pâqad (in 269 vv) and H505 ʼeleph (in 391 vv), plus H2074 Zᵉbûwlûwn (43 vv) — all common census vocabulary, not rare. Same structure and covenant purpose (first muster vs. second). Tiered structural rather than verbal because the shared terms are high-frequency, not a quotation — Verifier-confirmed.

Elon the clan-father vs. Elon the judge — same name, distinct men flagged — verify source

The Elonite clan is named for Elon, second son of Zebulun. A later judge of Israel is also called "Elon the Zebulonite" (Judges 12:11–12) — same name, same tribe, but a different man some four centuries on. The Verifier flags the shared lexeme Elon (H356, in 7 vv) and the gentilic Zebulonite (H2075), yet the bare spelling cannot establish that the clan-father and the judge are one person, and Scripture nowhere identifies them. The name Elon belongs to several distinct men (cf. the Hittite of Genesis 26:34). Flagged on purpose: the verbal match is real, the identity is not.

Judges 12:11 · Judges 12:12 · Genesis 26:34

basis: Shared lexeme H356 ʼÊylôwn (in 7 vv) and gentilic H2075 Zᵉbûwlônîy, but the referents differ — Elon son of Zebulun (clan-father) here vs. Elon the judge of Zebulun in Judges 12:11–12, with the same spelling also borne by a Hittite (Genesis 26:34). Same name, distinct men; the verbal match does not establish a genuine person-to-person cross-reference. Flagged deliberately.

Zebulun's inheritance — counted here, allotted there structural / thematic — confirmed

The clans mustered in this census are the same body that receives a tribal territory in the conquest (Joshua 19:10–16; cf. 21:7, 21:34), where the land is divided "according to their clans" (mišpāḥâ, H4940). The Verifier ties the passages by Zebulun (H2074) and mišpāḥâ (H4940), both common terms, so the connection is structural — the census of able men is the roll that the land-allotment presupposes, the count standing logically before the inheritance.

Joshua 19:10 · Joshua 19:16 · Joshua 21:7

basis: Shared lexemes H2074 Zᵉbûwlûwn (in 43 vv) and H4940 mishpâchâh (in 224 vv) — both common, high-frequency terms. The link is the structural sequence census → allotment of the same tribe by the same clan-units, not a quotation. Tiered structural, not verbal — Verifier-confirmed.

Counting the innumerable seed — the census and the Abrahamic oath (cross-Testament) structural / thematic — confirmed

A muster of Zebulun's clans exists only because the LORD swore to make Abraham's seed as the dust of the earth and the stars of heaven (Genesis 13:16; 22:17) — a promise Hebrews 11:12 declares fulfilled in "descendants as numerous as the stars … and as countless as the sand on the seashore." The census is that oath being verified by the only instrument adequate to it: a count. Because this spans Hebrew and Greek, it cannot rest on a shared Strong's number and does not claim one; the tie is the theological motif of the multiplied, kept seed.

Genesis 22:17 · Genesis 13:16 · Hebrews 11:12

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew ↔ Greek): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible or claimed. The link is the thematic motif of the Abrahamic promise of innumerable seed (Genesis 13:16; 22:17), which Hebrews 11:12 expressly names fulfilled — the census embodies the count that verifies the oath. Tiered structural/thematic, never verbal, by the cross-Testament rule.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The seed counted, the promise kept — and narrowed to One widely-held

Every tribal muster in this chapter is the Abrahamic promise of countless seed being checked against a count (Genesis 13:16). Yet Paul reads that same promise as finally singular: "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say, 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but … 'and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ" (Galatians 3:16). The census numbers the many precisely so that, in the fullness of time, the One can be born from among them; Zebulun's 60,500 are part of the line guarded toward Him.

Genesis 13:16 · Galatians 3:16

Zebulun by the sea — where the great Light dawned ancient/widely-held

Jacob settled Zebulun toward the sea (Genesis 49:13), and Isaiah named that very region — "the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali … Galilee of the nations" — as the place where a people in darkness would see a great light (Isaiah 9:1–2). Matthew declares it fulfilled when Jesus withdrew to Galilee and began to preach: "the people living in darkness have seen a great light" (Matthew 4:13–16). The clans mustered here are the forebears of the territory in which the Light of the world would first shine. Held with caution: the link runs through the tribe's later allotment and Isaiah's geography, an ancient and widely-held reading, not a claim from the census words themselves.

Isaiah 9:1 · Isaiah 9:2 · Matthew 4:15 · Matthew 4:16

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

This unit is a census fragment — the tribe of Zebulun in the second wilderness numbering on the plains of Moab (Numbers 26:26–27). The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), CC0. Parses, glosses, and Strong's numbers are sourced from the Berean/Strong's apparatus and are not contradicted here.

The named voices are public-domain (Geneva Study Bible 1599; Matthew Poole 1685; Matthew Henry 1706; John Gill 1746–63; Keil & Delitzsch 1860s; the Pulpit Commentary 1880s), quoted verbatim and attributed in place. Two voices supplied by BibleHub for this passage — Barnes on the sons of Korah and Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Simeon — comment on other parts of the chapter, not on Zebulun, and so were not selected; the on-topic witnesses converge tightly on the single fact that these three clans are the three sons of Genesis 46:14.

Honesty notes specific to this unit: (1) The Genesis 46:14 thread is tiered verbal — confirmed on genuinely rare lexemes (Sered and Jahleel each occur in only two verses canon-wide), not on common terms. (2) The Elon / Judges 12:11 link is flagged: the same Strong's number (H356) is borne by distinct men — the clan-father, the later judge of Zebulun, and a Hittite — so the verbal match must not be read as identifying persons. (3) The Abrahamic-seed and Galatians 3:16 links are cross-Testament (Hebrew ↔ Greek) and therefore tiered structural/thematic only, never verbal, since no shared Strong's number is possible across the languages. (4) The increase of 3,100 over Numbers 1:31 (57,400 → 60,500) is arithmetic from the two census totals, attested by Poole and Gill. The ⚙ synthesis layer is fallible and offered to be tested against the text, not trusted above it.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)