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Numbers 26:28–34 — The Tribe of Manasseh. 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.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The descendants of Joseph were classified in two leading families, according to his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim, who were born before the removal of Israel to Egypt, and were raised into founders of tribes in consequence of the patriarch Israel having adopted them as his own sons ( Genesis 48 ).

K&D ground the tribe-pair in the adoption of Genesis 48 — the double portion of Joseph made visible in the count.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

Manasseh is here mentioned first, though Ephraim was preferred to him by Jacob, and the standard belonged to him; not because he was the firstborn, but because he had now the greater increase

Gill resolves the reversed order by present growth, not birthright — the count, not the blessing, sets the sequence here.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

We have here the families registered, as well as the tribes. The total was nearly the same as when numbered at mount Sinai.

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The descendants of Joseph included the clans of Manasseh and Ephraim.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê yō·w·sêp̄ lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām mə·naš·šeh wə·’ep̄·rā·yim

Word by word5 · parsed

בְּנֵ֥יbə·nêThe 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

בְּנֵי (bə·nê) — "sons of," construct plural of bên. The header-word of the unit; every clan below hangs from a bên.

יוֹסֵ֖ףyō·w·sêp̄of JosephH3130

√ Yôwçêph — Joseph, the name of seven IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

יוֹסֵף (Joseph) appears here as a tribe-pair, not a single tribe. Joseph receives a double portion through his two sons — the firstborn's right transferred from Reuben (1 Chronicles 5:1-2). The census makes visible what Genesis promised.

לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑םlə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām[included] the clansH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iPreposition-lNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural

lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām, "by their clans" — the organizing rubric of Numbers 26: the people are counted not as a mass but by named mishpâchâh, each tracing to a father.

מְנַשֶּׁ֖הmə·naš·šehof ManassehH4519

√ Mᵉnashsheh — Menashsheh, a grandson of Jacob, also the tribe descended from him, and its territoryNounpropermasculine singular

מְנַשֶּׁה (Manasseh) — "causing to forget" (Genesis 41:51); the elder son of Joseph, named first here though Jacob crossed his hands to bless the younger.

וְאֶפְרָֽיִם׃wə·’ep̄·rā·yimand EphraimH669

√ ʼEphrayim — Ephrajim, a son of JosephConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

wə·’ep̄·rā·yim (Ephraim) — "doubly fruitful" (Genesis 41:52); the younger, given the precedence by Jacob, yet placed second in this list. Keil & Delitzsch note both were "raised into founders of tribes" by Israel's adoption (Genesis 48).

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Sons-of Joseph by-their-clans: Manasseh and-Ephraim.

Where the English smooths the original

בְּנֵ֥י BSB's "The descendants of Joseph" softens the bare construct chain bə·nê yō·w·sêp̄ — literally "sons-of Joseph." The noun bên is the same word that builds the whole chapter ("sons of Manasseh," "son of Hepher"); "descendants" reads the genealogical sense correctly but loses the recurring drumbeat of bên binding the census together.
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם The single word lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām ("by-their-clans," preposition + mishpâchâh + 3 m.pl. suffix) is unpacked into "included the clans of." Mishpâchâh is the governing unit of the entire census — not "family" in the modern small sense but the sub-tribal clan; the BSB's "clans" is right, but the suffix "their clans" is dropped.
וְאֶפְרָֽיִם׃ The order Manasseh and-Ephraim is preserved by the conjunctive waw on wə·’ep̄·rā·yim, listing the elder first; the English keeps the order but cannot signal that this reverses Jacob's deliberate blessing of Ephraim over Manasseh (Genesis 48:14, 19), a tension the voices below notice.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Eight families descended from Manasseh: viz., one from his son Machir, the second from Machir's son or Manasseh's grandson Gilead, and the other six from the six sons of Gilead.

K&D give the spine of the whole Manasseh list: Machir → Gilead → six clans = eight families.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

It is stated in 1Chronicles 7:14 , and in the LXX. of Genesis 46:20 , that Machir’s mother was an Aramitess. This may account for the name which was given to his son, Gilead, the border land between Syria and Canaan, and that in which Laban overtook Jacob ( Genesis 31:25 ).

Ellicott reads the name Gilead off the geography — a trans-Jordan border-name fitting a half-Aramean line.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Gilead is here mentioned as Machir’s only son, and therefore some conceive that the family of the Machirites, and of the Gileadites, are one and the same family, only called by two names; first Machirites, but afterwards Gileadites.

Poole flags the genuine textual puzzle — whether Machirite and Gileadite are one clan or two, comparing Joshua 17 and 1 Chronicles 7.

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These were the descendants of Manasseh: The Machirite clan from Machir, the father of Gilead, and the Gileadite clan from Gilead.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê mə·naš·šeh ham·mā·ḵî·rî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lə·mā·ḵîr ū·mā·ḵîr hō·w·lîḏ ’eṯ- gil·‘āḏ hag·gil·‘ā·ḏî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lə·ḡil·‘āḏ

Word by word12 · parsed

בְּנֵ֣יbə·nê[These were] the descendantsH1121

מְנַשֶּׁ֗הmə·naš·šehof ManassehH4519

√ Mᵉnashsheh — Menashsheh, a grandson of Jacob, also the tribe descended from him, and its territoryNounpropermasculine singular

הַמָּכִירִ֔יham·mā·ḵî·rîThe MachiriteH4354

√ Mâkîyrîy — a Makirite or descendant of MakirArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הַמָּכִירִי (ham·mā·ḵî·rî) — "the Machirite," the one clan from Machir, Manasseh's only son. Poole weighs whether the Machirites and Gileadites are one family under two names or two distinct lines now merged into Gilead's.

מִשְׁפַּ֣חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

לְמָכִיר֙lə·mā·ḵîrfrom MachirH4353

√ Mâkîyr — Makir, an IsraelitePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

וּמָכִ֖ירū·mā·ḵîrH4353

√ Mâkîyr — Makir, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

הוֹלִ֣ידhō·w·lîḏthe father ofH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular

הוֹלִיד (hō·w·lîḏ) — Hiphil of yâlad, "begot." The only finite verb in this clan-list; it pins the generational link Machir → Gilead that the rest of the chapter assumes.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

גִּלְעָ֑דgil·‘āḏGileadH1568

√ Gilʻâd — Gilad, a region East of the JordanNounproperfeminine singular

gil·‘āḏ (Gilead) — both a man and, later, the trans-Jordan territory allotted to his line (Numbers 32:40). Ellicott and the Pulpit Commentary trace the name to Machir's Aramean mother, the border-land between Aram and Canaan (1 Chronicles 7:14).

הַגִּלְעָדִֽי׃hag·gil·‘ā·ḏî[and] the GileaditeH1569

√ Gilʻâdîy — a Giladite or descendant of GiladArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

לְגִלְעָ֕דlə·ḡil·‘āḏfrom GileadH1568

√ Gilʻâd — Gilad, a region East of the JordanPreposition-lNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Sons-of Manasseh: of-Machir, the-clan-of the-Machirites; and-Machir begot Gilead; of-Gilead, the-clan-of the-Gileadites.

Where the English smooths the original

הוֹלִ֣יד BSB's noun-phrase "the father of Gilead" flattens the verb hō·w·lîḏ — the Hiphil of yâlad, "to beget / cause to bear," 3 m.sg. perfect: "and-Machir begot Gilead." The verse is not a static label but an act of generation; the Hiphil names Machir as the one through whom Gilead came to be.
מְנַשֶּׁ֗ה "These were the descendants of Manasseh" supplies "These were" — but the Hebrew opens with the bare construct bə·nê mə·naš·šeh, "sons-of Manasseh," matching v.28's header exactly. The repetition is structural: each tier of the genealogy restarts with bə·nê.
הַגִּלְעָדִֽי׃ The English smooths the doubling whereby Gilead is named twice — first as a man (gil·‘āḏ, the begotten son) and then as a clan-adjective hag·gil·‘ā·ḏî ("the Gileadite," with article). Hebrew personifies a clan in a single name and lets the same word be man, clan, and region; the parsings keep them distinct (H1568 the man/place vs. H1569 the clansman).

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Jeezer, called also Abiezer , Joshua 17:2 Judges 6:11 ,34 1 Chronicles 7:18 .

Poole's terse cross-reference identifies the Iezerite with Abiezer — Gideon's clan in Judges 6.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The genealogical accounts in Numbers 27:1 ; Numbers 36:1 , and Joshua 17:1 ., fully harmonize with this, except that Iezer ( Numbers 26:30 ) is called Abiezer in Joshua 17:2

K&D record the single divergence in an otherwise harmonized witness — Iezer here, Abiezer in Joshua.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

These are the sons of Gilead: of Jeezer, the family of the Jeezerites: of Helek, the family of the Helekites:

The Geneva gloss is simply the verse re-rendered — the 1599 English naming of the two first clans of Gilead.

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These were the descendants of Gilead: the Iezerite clan from Iezer, the Helekite clan from Helek,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’êl·leh bə·nê ḡil·‘āḏ hā·’î·‘ez·rî miš·pa·ḥaṯ ’î·‘e·zer ha·ḥel·qî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lə·ḥê·leq

Word by word9 · parsed

אֵ֚לֶּה’êl·lehThese [were]H428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural

אֵלֶּה (’êl·leh) — "these," the demonstrative that opens (v.30) and closes (v.34) the Manasseh roll, framing it as one bounded list.

בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêthe descendantsH1121

גִלְעָ֔דḡil·‘āḏof GileadH1568

√ Gilʻâd — Gilad, a region East of the JordanNounproperfeminine singular

הָאִֽיעֶזְרִ֑יhā·’î·‘ez·rîthe IezeriteH373

√ ʼÎyʻezrîy — an Iezrite or descendant of IezerArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הָאִיעֶזְרִי (the Iezerite) — Poole identifies him with Abiezer (Joshua 17:2; Judges 6:11), Gideon's clan. The first of Gilead's six sons; the contracted name is the same man under another spelling.

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

אִיעֶ֕זֶר’î·‘e·zerfrom IezerH372

√ ʼÎyʻezêr — Iezer, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular

הַֽחֶלְקִֽי׃ha·ḥel·qîthe HelekiteH2516

√ Chelqîy — a Chelkite or descendant of ChelekArticleNounpropermasculine singular

ha·ḥel·qî (the Helekite), from Chêleq — "portion / share." A fitting name in a census whose end is the apportioning of the land (Numbers 26:53-56).

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

לְחֵ֕לֶקlə·ḥê·leqfrom HelekH2507

√ Chêleq — Chelek, an IsraelitePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

These [are] sons-of Gilead: of-Iezer, the-clan-of the-Iezerites; of-Helek, the-clan-of the-Helekites;

Where the English smooths the original

אֵ֚לֶּה BSB opens "These were the descendants of Gilead"; the Hebrew is ’êl·leh bə·nê ḡil·‘āḏ — "these [are] sons-of Gilead," a verbless clause with the demonstrative ’êlleh fronted. There is no past-tense verb; English supplies "were" to make a sentence of a list-header.
הָאִֽיעֶזְרִ֑י The clan-name hā·’î·‘ez·rî ("the Iezerite") is the same man Joshua 17:2 and Judges 6:11 call Abiezer — a contracted form. Poole and Keil & Delitzsch both note the variant; the English "Iezerite" follows this verse's shorter spelling without signalling the cross-reference.
מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת The repeated word miš·pa·ḥaṯ ("clan of," construct of mishpâchâh) is rendered "clan" each time, but the construct binding ("clan-of the Helekites") is loosened to a looser apposition in English; the Hebrew keeps each clan tightly bound to its named ancestor.

the Asrielite clan from Asriel, the Shechemite clan from Shechem,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hā·’aś·ri·’ê·lî miš·pa·ḥaṯ wə·’aś·rî·’êl haš·šiḵ·mî miš·pa·ḥaṯ wə·še·ḵem

Word by word6 · parsed

הָֽאַשְׂרִֽאֵלִ֑יhā·’aś·ri·’ê·lîthe AsrieliteH845

√ ʼAsriʼêlîy — an Asrielite (collectively) or descendant of AsrielArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הָאַשְׂרִאֵלִי (the Asrielite), from Asriel — the third clan of Gilead's six. 1 Chronicles 7:14 lists Asriel among the sons borne to Manasseh by his Aramean concubine.

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

וְאַ֨שְׂרִיאֵ֔לwə·’aś·rî·’êlfrom AsrielH844

√ ʼAsrîyʼêl — Asriel, the name of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

הַשִּׁכְמִֽי׃haš·šiḵ·mîthe ShechemiteH7930

√ Shikmîy — a Shikmite (collectively), or descendants of ShekemArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הַשִּׁכְמִי (the Shechemite), from Shekem — "shoulder / ridge." The clan-father bears the name of the storied city in Manasseh's own territory; the tribe's land would later hold the place where Joseph's bones were buried (Joshua 24:32).

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

וְשֶׁ֕כֶםwə·še·ḵemfrom ShechemH7928

√ Shekem — Shekem, the name of a Hivite and two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

and-the-Asrielite, the-clan; and-of-Asriel, the-Shechemite, the-clan; and-of-Shechem;

Where the English smooths the original

הָֽאַשְׂרִֽאֵלִ֑י The verse is a string of clan-adjectives without a finite verb; hā·’aś·ri·’ê·lî ("the Asrielite") stands first, the ancestor Asriel named only after in wə·’aś·rî·’êl. English reorders to "the Asrielite clan from Asriel" for readability, but the Hebrew leads with the clan and supplies the father second.
הַשִּׁכְמִֽי׃ haš·šiḵ·mî ("the Shechemite") carries the weight of a place-name: Shechem is the city of Genesis 12:6; 34; Joshua 24. Here it is a person, the clan-father — the same consonants doing double duty as man and town, a feature English cannot fold into a single word.
מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת The drumbeat miš·pa·ḥaṯ repeats twice in this short verse; the BSB renders each "clan" but the Hebrew's parallelism — clan-name, mishpaḥaṯ, ancestor-name — is a fixed liturgical cadence the census keeps for every family.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

And of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites: and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites.

The Geneva gloss names the last two Gileadite clans — Hepher's house being the one v.33 will single out.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

Hepher, of whom was the last, had a son named Zelophehad, but he had no son, only five daughters, whose names are given

Gill draws the line from Hepher — the final clan here — straight to Zelophehad's heirless house in the next verse.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

In Numbers 26:33 , a son of Hepher, named Zelophehad, is mentioned. He had no sons, but only daughters, whose names are given here to prepare the way for the legal regulations mentioned in Numbers 27 and 39, to which this fact gave rise.

K&D state the structural purpose: Hepher's clan is recorded to set up the inheritance law that follows.

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the Shemidaite clan from Shemida, and the Hepherite clan from Hepher.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

haš·šə·mî·ḏā·‘î miš·pa·ḥaṯ ū·šə·mî·ḏā‘ ha·ḥep̄·rî miš·pa·ḥaṯ wə·ḥê·p̄er

Word by word6 · parsed

הַשְּׁמִידָעִ֑יhaš·šə·mî·ḏā·‘îthe ShemidaiteH8062

√ Shᵉmîydâʻîy — a Shemidaite (collectively) or descendants of ShemidaArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הַשְּׁמִידָעִי (the Shemidaite), from Shemida — the fifth Gileadite clan. The name surfaces again at 1 Chronicles 7:19, one of the few corroborations of this list outside the Pentateuch.

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

וּשְׁמִידָ֕עū·šə·mî·ḏā‘from ShemidaH8061

√ Shᵉmîydâʻ — Shemida, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

הַֽחֶפְרִֽי׃ha·ḥep̄·rî[and] the HepheriteH2662

√ Chephrîy — a Chephrite (collectively) or descendants of ChepherArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הַחֶפְרִי (the Hepherite), from Chêpher — the sixth and final clan of Gilead. Hepher is the father of Zelophehad (v.33); this otherwise unremarkable name becomes the doorway to one of the Torah's landmark legal cases.

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

וְחֵ֕פֶרwə·ḥê·p̄erfrom HepherH2660

√ Chêpher — Chepher, a place in PalestineConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

and-the-Shemidaite, the-clan; and-of-Shemida; and-the-Hepherite, the-clan; and-of-Hepher.

Where the English smooths the original

הַשְּׁמִידָעִ֑י haš·šə·mî·ḏā·‘î ("the Shemidaite") names the fifth clan; the ancestor Shemida (wə·šə·mî·ḏā‘) recurs in 1 Chronicles 7:19 alongside Shechem — a rare verbal overlap (the name occurs in only three verses of the whole Hebrew Bible). The BSB's plain "Shemidaite clan from Shemida" gives no hint that this name is one of the threads tying Numbers to Chronicles.
הַֽחֶפְרִֽי׃ ha·ḥep̄·rî ("the Hepherite"), from Chêpher — "a pit / well." The English closes the clan-list neatly, but in Hebrew this is the load-bearing name: Hepher's son will be Zelophehad (v.33), whose daughterless house forces the inheritance law of chapters 27 and 36. The list's last name is its hinge.
מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת Again the fixed formula miš·pa·ḥaṯ ("clan of") binds each adjective to its father; the BSB's "clan" is accurate but the relentless repetition — eight times across the Manasseh roll — is a deliberate cadence the smooth English mutes.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

He had no sons, but only daughters, whose names are given here to prepare the way for the legal regulations mentioned in Numbers 27 and 39, to which this fact gave rise.

K&D name the verse's function: the daughters are listed precisely to set up the inheritance statutes of Numbers 27 and 36.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

It is remarkable that in so many heads of families there was only one to whom no sons were born. To what other cause can this be ascribed but to a peculiar providence, whereby many more males than females were born, for the strength and increase of the Jewish nation?

Benson reads the single daughterless house against the chapter's many fathers as a providential singularity.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

This is mentioned here because the case was to come prominently before the lawgiver and the nation (cf. Numbers 27:1 ; Numbers 36:1 ; 1 Chronicles 7:15 ).

The Pulpit Commentary fixes the verse as deliberate foreshadowing of the legal case to come.

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Now Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons but only daughters. The names of his daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ṣə·lā·p̄ə·ḥāḏ ben- ḥê·p̄er hā·yū lōw lō- bā·nîm kî ’im- bā·nō·wṯ wə·šêm bə·nō·wṯ ṣə·lā·p̄ə·ḥāḏ maḥ·lāh wə·nō·‘āh ḥā·ḡə·lāh mil·kāh wə·ṯir·ṣāh

Word by word18 · parsed

וּצְלָפְחָ֣דū·ṣə·lā·p̄ə·ḥāḏNow ZelophehadH6765

√ Tsᵉlophchâd — Tselophchad, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וּצְלָפְחָד (Zelophehad) — "protection from terror" (uncertain); the only man in the entire Manasseh roll whose own children are named, and they are daughters. The rare name occurs in just nine verses of Scripture, all bound to this single legal case.

בֶּן־ben-sonH1121

חֵ֗פֶרḥê·p̄erof HepherH2660

√ Chêpher — Chepher, a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular

הָ֥יוּhā·yūhadH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

ל֛וֹlōw

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

לֹא־lō-noH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

lō’ bā·nîm, "no sons" — the lack that drives the narrative. In a land-by-inheritance economy, a sonless house faced extinction of its name and forfeiture of its portion.

בָּנִ֖יםbā·nîmsonsH1121

√ 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

כִּ֣יkîbut onlyH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

אִם־’im-. . .H518

√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction

בָּנ֑וֹתbā·nō·wṯdaughtersH1323

√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine plural

בָּנוֹת (bā·nō·wṯ), "daughters" — the word set against bānîm ("sons") in the same verse. Benson reads the lone daughterless house among so many fathers as a mark of providence; the law it provokes will make daughters heirs (Numbers 27:7-8).

וְשֵׁם֙wə·šêmThe namesH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

בְּנ֣וֹתbə·nō·wṯof [his] daughtersH1323

√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine plural construct

צְלָפְחָ֔דṣə·lā·p̄ə·ḥāḏ. . .H6765

√ Tsᵉlophchâd — Tselophchad, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular

מַחְלָ֣הmaḥ·lāhwere MahlahH4244

√ Machlâh — Machlah, the name apparently of two IsraelitessesNounproperfeminine singular

מַחְלָה (Mahlah) and the four names that follow — Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, Tirzah — recur as a fixed set in Numbers 27:1; 36:11; Joshua 17:3. Their names travel together through the canon as the test-case of inheritance law.

וְנֹעָ֔הwə·nō·‘āhNoahH5270

√ Nôʻâh — Noah, an IsraelitessConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular

חָגְלָ֥הḥā·ḡə·lāhHoglahH2295

√ Choglâh — Choglah, an IsraelitessNounproperfeminine singular

מִלְכָּ֖הmil·kāhMilcahH4435

√ Milkâh — Milcah, the name of a Hebrewess and of an IsraeliteNounproperfeminine singular

וְתִרְצָֽה׃wə·ṯir·ṣāhand TirzahH8656

√ Tirtsâh — Tirtsah, a place in PalestineConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Zelophehad son-of Hepher had no sons but-only daughters; and-the-names-of the-daughters-of Zelophehad: Mahlah, and-Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and-Tirzah.

Where the English smooths the original

הָ֥יוּ BSB "had no sons but only daughters" renders the verb hā·yū ("they were," Qal perfect 3 c.pl. of hâyâh) plus the prepositional lōw ("to him") — literally "there-were to-him no sons." Hebrew has no verb "to have"; possession is built from "to be" + "to him," so the verse states the absence as a fact of being, not a defect.
כִּ֣י אִם־ The pair kî ’im is a strong adversative idiom — "but rather / except only." The BSB's "but only" catches it, yet the Hebrew construction is emphatic: not merely "and also daughters" but "nothing except daughters." The whole legal question of chapters 27 and 36 hangs on this exclusive kî ’im.
וְשֵׁם֙ wə·šêm ("and the name of," construct of shêm) is singular — "and-the-name-of the daughters," though five names follow. Hebrew often keeps shêm collective; the BSB's plural "The names" is idiomatic English but loses the singular form. That these five women are named at all — against the chapter's habit of naming only fathers — is the verse's quiet emphasis.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Fifty-two thousand seven hundred — Whereas they were but thirty-two thousand and two hundred, in Numbers 1:35 . So that they had increased twenty thousand and five hundred, according to the promise made to Joseph’s posterity, Genesis 49:22 .

Benson reads the 20,500 increase as the cashing-out of Jacob's blessing on Joseph — "a fruitful bough."

source ↗

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Whereas they were but 32,200 in Numbers 1:35 . So they are now increased above 50,000, according to that prophecy, Genesis 49:22 .

Poole, like Benson, ties the swelled total to Genesis 49:22 — the tribe's growth as prophecy fulfilled.

source ↗

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

His truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.

JFB read tribal increase across the census as a display of God's faithfulness; Manasseh's surge is a leading instance.

source ↗

These were the clans of Manasseh, and their registration numbered 52,700.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’êl·leh miš·pə·ḥōṯ mə·naš·šeh ū·p̄ə·qu·ḏê·hem šə·na·yim wa·ḥă·miš·šîm ’e·lep̄ ū·šə·ḇa‘ mê·’ō·wṯ

Word by word9 · parsed

אֵ֖לֶּה’êl·lehTheseH428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural

אֵלֶּה (’êl·leh) — "these," closing the Manasseh section opened by the same word in v.30; the roll is sealed.

מִשְׁפְּחֹ֣תmiš·pə·ḥōṯ[were] the clansH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine plural construct

מְנַשֶּׁ֑הmə·naš·šehof ManassehH4519

√ Mᵉnashsheh — Menashsheh, a grandson of Jacob, also the tribe descended from him, and its territoryNounpropermasculine singular

וּפְקֻ֣דֵיהֶ֔םū·p̄ə·qu·ḏê·hemand their registration numberedH6485

√ pâqad — to visit (with friendly or hostile intent)Conjunctive wawVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural

וּפְקֻדֵיהֶם (ū·p̄ə·qu·ḏê·hem) — "their mustered ones," from pâqad. The census-word: those reckoned, visited, called to account. The count is for war (v.2) and for land (vv.53-56).

שְׁנַ֧יִםšə·na·yim. . . 52,700H8147

√ shᵉnayim — twoNumbermd

šə·na·yim wa·ḥă·miš·šîm ’e·lep̄ — "52,000"; with the 700 that follows, 52,700. Benson and Poole both contrast this with the 32,200 at Sinai (Numbers 1:35): an increase of 20,500, the second-largest gain of any tribe, which they read as the fulfilment of Jacob's blessing on Joseph (Genesis 49:22).

וַחֲמִשִּׁ֛יםwa·ḥă·miš·šîm. . .H2572

√ chămishshîym — fiftyConjunctive wawNumbercommon plural

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

וּשְׁבַ֥עū·šə·ḇa‘. . .H7651

√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Conjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular construct

מֵאֽוֹת׃סmê·’ō·wṯ. . .H3967

√ mêʼâh — a hundredNumberfeminine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

These [are] the-clans-of Manasseh, and-their-numbered-ones: two and-fifty thousand and-seven hundred.

Where the English smooths the original

וּפְקֻ֣דֵיהֶ֔ם BSB's "their registration numbered" renders ū·p̄ə·qu·ḏê·hem — a Qal passive participle of pâqad ("to muster / visit / appoint") with 3 m.pl. suffix: "and-their-mustered-ones." The root pâqad carries far more than counting — it means to visit, attend to, even punish or reckon. These are not merely tallied but mustered, called up for war and inheritance.
אֵ֖לֶּה The verse opens "’êl·leh [are] the clans of Manasseh," the same demonstrative ’êlleh that opened the roll at v.30 — closing the bracket. English "These were" supplies a past-tense verb the verbless Hebrew clause does not have; the construction is a summary label, not a sentence.
שְׁנַ֧יִם וַחֲמִשִּׁ֛ים אֶ֖לֶף The figure is spelled out word by word in Hebrew — two, and-fifty, thousand, and-seven, hundreds — not as a numeral. The BSB's compact "52,700" is exact but collapses six separate counting-words; Hebrew piles the units up additively, the way the clans themselves were summed one by one.

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. A genealogy that is really a deed — 26:28-32

On the surface this is the dullest kind of text — a clan-list: Joseph's two sons, then Manasseh's one son Machir, then Machir's son Gilead, then Gilead's six sons. But the census of Numbers 26 is not antiquarian record-keeping; it is the legal instrument by which the land will be divided (Numbers 26:53-56). To be named here is to hold a deed. Keil & Delitzsch lay out the architecture plainly: "Eight families descended from Manasseh: viz., one from his son Machir, the second from Machir's son or Manasseh's grandson Gilead, and the other six from the six sons of Gilead." Every mishpâchâh (clan) traces to a father, and every father is a future landholder. John Gill runs the same chain in a single breath — "of whom were the families of the Jeezerite, Halekite, Asrielite, Shechemite, Shemidaite, and Hepherite" — and the recurring Hebrew word miš·pa·ḥaṯ beats through the passage eight times, binding clan to ancestor with a fixed, almost liturgical cadence.

ii. The reversed brothers — 26:28

The unit opens with a small, deliberate tension. Joseph's two sons are listed "Manasseh and Ephraim" — the elder first — though Jacob had crossed his hands to set the younger Ephraim above the firstborn (Genesis 48:14, 19). Gill resolves it without flattening it: "Manasseh is here mentioned first, though Ephraim was preferred to him by Jacob, and the standard belonged to him; not because he was the firstborn, but because he had now the greater increase." The blessing-order and the census-order diverge, and the text simply lets both stand — the prophecy of preference (Ephraim) and the present fact of growth (Manasseh) held together without contradiction. K&D anchor the whole tribe-pair in Genesis 48: the two grandsons "were raised into founders of tribes in consequence of the patriarch Israel having adopted them as his own sons" — the double portion of Joseph made countable.

iii. One name among the fathers — and it is five daughters — 26:33

The list of fathers runs without interruption until it reaches Hepher's son Zelophehad — and there the chapter does something it does nowhere else: it names children, and the children are daughters. "Now Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons but only daughters" — and then, against every habit of the genealogy, five women's names: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Joseph Benson marks the strangeness: "It is remarkable that in so many heads of families there was only one to whom no sons were born." The Hebrew idiom is stark — the verse has no verb "to have"; it says there-were-to-him no sons, stating the absence as a bare fact of being, then turns it with the emphatic kî ’im, "nothing except daughters." K&D see precisely why the names are recorded: "whose names are given here to prepare the way for the legal regulations mentioned in Numbers 27 and [36], to which this fact gave rise." The dullest list in the Torah cracks open here into one of its most consequential legal cases — the right of daughters to inherit.

iv. The swelled total — 26:34

The roll is sealed with a number: "These were the clans of Manasseh, and their registration numbered 52,700." The counting-word is pâqad — to muster, to visit, to reckon — not a neutral tally but a calling-up for war and for land. Benson and Matthew Poole independently set the figure against the first census: "Whereas they were but 32,200 in Numbers 1:35... they had increased twenty thousand and five hundred, according to the promise made to Joseph's posterity, Genesis 49:22." Manasseh's gain of 20,500 is the largest of any tribe — and the commentators read it not as demographics but as covenant: the fruitful bough of Genesis 49 bearing exactly the fruit that was promised. JFB generalize the point across the whole census — God's "truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people."

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

Read under the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, three things in this clan-list ask to be tested — offered as a fallible reading, not a verdict:

Names are not filler. A modern reader skips genealogies; the text does not. Each mishpâchâh recorded here is a future title-deed (Numbers 26:53-56), and to be named is to be remembered, counted, and given a place. Scripture's habit of writing down names — even of clans that vanish from the story — is its quiet insistence that God reckons individuals, not masses (cf. Luke 10:20; Revelation 20:12).

The law bends toward the heirless. The whole genealogy runs on fathers and sons, the ordinary machinery of inheritance — and then, deliberately, it halts at the one house with no son and names five daughters instead. The verse is recorded not to close the case but to open it: the next chapters will rule that the daughters inherit (Numbers 27:7-8). The text itself moves from custom toward mercy, and it does so for the line that the system would have erased.

Growth is grace, not merely census. Manasseh's 20,500 increase is read by Benson and Poole straight back to a promise made generations earlier (Genesis 49:22). The number is not bragging; it is faithfulness made visible. What God swore to Joseph, He counted out in his great-great-grandchildren.

"The driest list in the Torah is a roll of the remembered — and at its one heirless house, the law itself leans down toward the daughters no one else would have counted."

That last line is this tool's reading, not a verse. Weigh it against the text; keep only what the Word supports.

The driest list in the Torah is a roll of the remembered — and at its one heirless house, the law itself leans down toward the daughters no one else would have counted.

⚙

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 Manasseh clan-roll → the land allotment structural / thematic — confirmed

The same clans counted here are the clans that receive territory in Joshua 17. The link rests on the shared backbone of tribal vocabulary — Mᵉnashsheh, Yôwçêph, and mishpâchâh — but these are common, high-frequency terms (Manasseh in 133 verses, Joseph in 193, clan in 224), so the connection is one of shared structure and subject, not a quotation: the census-roll is drawn forward into the deed of allotment. The genealogy of Numbers 26 is the legal ground of the map in Joshua 17.

Numbers 26:28-34 · Joshua 17:1-2

basis: shared lexemes H4519 Mᵉnashsheh (133 vv), H3130 Yôwçêph (193 vv), H4940 mishpâchâh (224 vv) — all high-frequency tribal terms; same clans, same structure, no quotation. Verifier: structural / thematic — confirmed.

The five daughters of Zelophehad verbal / quotation — confirmed

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah are named here (26:33) and then travel together through the canon as a fixed set — petitioning Moses in Numbers 27:1, receiving their inheritance among Manasseh in Joshua 17:3, and marrying within the tribe in Numbers 36:11. This is a genuine verbal thread: the names are rare (Hoglah and Noah occur in only four verses each, Mahlah in five, Zelophehad in nine), so their co-occurrence is a real lexical link, not a coincidence of common words. The same five-name string is the thread on which the whole inheritance-law narrative is strung.

Numbers 26:33 · Numbers 27:1 · Joshua 17:3

basis: Verifier on 26:33↔27:1 and 26:33↔Joshua 17:3 both return the same rare-name overlap: H5270 Nôʻâh (4 vv), H2295 Choglâh (4 vv), H4244 Machlâh (5 vv), H6765 Tsᵉlophchâd (9 vv) — low-frequency proper names co-occurring as a fixed set in every member of the thread, not high-frequency tribal vocabulary. verbal / quotation — confirmed.

The daughters' inheritance law completed verbal / quotation — confirmed

The case opened by 26:33 is closed in Numbers 36:11, where the same five daughters — Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah — marry their cousins so their portion stays within Manasseh. The thread is verbal: the rare names recur as a set, with the additional low-frequency overlaps of Milkâh (10 vv) and Tirtsâh (17 vv). What the census recorded as a bare fact ("no sons but only daughters") becomes, by chapter 36, a settled statute of land tenure — the narrative arc the genealogy was written to begin.

Numbers 26:33 · Numbers 36:11

basis: shared rare proper names H6765 Tsᵉlophchâd (9 vv), H4435 Milkâh (10 vv), H8656 Tirtsâh (17 vv) plus the daughter-name set; the same women named. Verifier: verbal / quotation — confirmed.

Shemida and Shechem → the Chronicler's fragment verbal / quotation — confirmed

Two of Gilead's clan-fathers, Shechem and Shemida (26:31-32), resurface in the obscure Manasseh genealogy of 1 Chronicles 7:19. The name Shᵉmîydâʻ is genuinely rare — it occurs in only three verses of the entire Hebrew Bible — so its reappearance is a real verbal corroboration of this census from a much later, independent witness. The Chronicler's fragment is broken and hard to read (Poole and the Pulpit Commentary both call it perplexing), but where it overlaps, it confirms.

Numbers 26:31 · Numbers 26:32 · 1 Chronicles 7:19

basis: two independently rare proper names overlap with the Chronicler: H7928 Shekem (3 vv, from 26:31) and H8061 Shᵉmîydâʻ (3 vv, from 26:32), each confirmed by the Verifier against 1 Chronicles 7:19. Two freq-3 names co-occurring is a real verbal corroboration from a later witness, not chance. verbal / quotation — confirmed.

Iezer here, Abiezer in Joshua flagged — verify source

The first clan of Gilead is the Iezerite (26:30); in Joshua 17:2 the same clan-father is named Abiezer — the contracted and the full form of one name. Poole notes it tersely ("Jeezer, called also Abiezer"), and Keil & Delitzsch single it out as the one point where the otherwise harmonized witnesses of Numbers, Joshua, and Chronicles diverge. Held honestly: this is a flagged item not because the identification is doubtful but because the textual variation is real — the same line carries two names across the books, and a reader should know the source-tradition is not perfectly uniform here.

Numbers 26:30 · Joshua 17:2

basis: name-form variation: Iezer (H372) here vs. Abiezer in Joshua 17:2; same clan, divergent spelling across witnesses. K&D flag it as the single non-harmonized point — left flagged on purpose.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The double portion of the firstborn, given to Joseph novel

The unit opens on "the sons of Joseph... Manasseh and Ephraim" — and behind the tribe-pair stands a transferred birthright: Reuben forfeited the firstborn's double portion, and it passed to Joseph, who alone among the brothers becomes two tribes (1 Chronicles 5:1-2; cf. Genesis 48). The double inheritance given to the once-rejected, then-exalted son is a pattern the New Testament reads forward: the Son who was "despised and rejected" is made "heir of all things" (Hebrews 1:2), and those in Him are "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17). Joseph's double portion foreshadows the inheritance secured in the true Beloved Son.

Numbers 26:28 · 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 · Hebrews 1:2

Daughters made heirs — the inheritance widened novel

The chapter's one heirless house (26:33) becomes the occasion for a law that hands the inheritance to daughters (Numbers 27:7-8) — a quiet widening of who may receive the promised portion. The trajectory runs straight to the gospel's full opening of the inheritance: "there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:28-29). The daughters of Zelophehad, named where the genealogy named only fathers, stand as an early sign that in God's economy the inheritance reaches those the world's reckoning would have left out — fulfilled in Christ, in whom sons and daughters alike are made heirs.

Numbers 26:33 · Numbers 27:7-8 · Galatians 3:28-29

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:

Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
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 (Numbers 26:28-34) is a genealogical fragment within the second wilderness census — the Manasseh portion of the tribal roll taken on the plains of Moab. Its theological weight is easy to miss and is carried almost entirely by what the list sets up: the recording of Zelophehad's five daughters (v.33) exists to prepare the inheritance legislation of Numbers 27 and 36, as Keil & Delitzsch and the Pulpit Commentary both insist.

A genuine source-difficulty runs through the passage. The Manasseh families are not recorded in Genesis, and the parallel fragment in 1 Chronicles 7:14-19 is, in the Pulpit Commentary's words, "so obscure and fragmentary as to be extremely perplexing." Poole openly weighs whether the Machirite and Gileadite clans are one family or two; the Iezer/Abiezer name-variation (Joshua 17:2) is left flagged above. These are not errors to be smoothed over but the honest state of the witnesses, recorded here in the open.

The cross-reference badges follow the project Verifier. Where the shared lexemes are rare proper names co-occurring as a set (the five daughters; Shemida), the link is tiered verbal — confirmed; where the overlap is only high-frequency tribal vocabulary (Manasseh, Joseph, clan), it is tiered structural — confirmed, never verbal. The two Christ readings are marked novel rather than ancient: they are this tool's own typological tracing from the double portion and the widened inheritance, offered to be tested against the text, not claimed as the settled reading of the Fathers. The Hebrew parsings and literal renderings are this tool's work (⚙) — check them against a lexicon and a standard grammar. "Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)

✦ = 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)