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Genesis 46:18

in Genesis 46

These are the sons of Jacob born to Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.

KJV

These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.

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This verse in Genesis 46

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter,.... To be her maid, when she was married to Jacob, by whom he had Gad and Asher: and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls; not that Zilpah bare sixteen children to Jacob, for she bore but two; but the children and grandchildren of these two with them made sixteen.

This site's exposition

The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi

on Genesis 46:16-18

Gad and Asher are Zilpah's, and between them they bring sixteen, more than Rachel's fourteen. The list keeps saying who gave whom to whom, Zilpah to Leah and Bilhah to Rachel, both out of Laban's hand. Serah, Asher's daughter, is the second woman named in the roll.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

In the speech of Stephen (Ac 7:14) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (1Ch 7:14-20), born in Egypt, the two accounts coincide.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

THESE ARE THE SONS OF ZILPAH, etc. THE SONS OF RACHEL JACOB’s WIFE, etc. It is customary for Scripture to first enumerate the sons of the mistresses together, just as it said in the Seder Vayishlach Yaakov. Above,: 23-26.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Genesis 46:18:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אֵ֚לֶּהthese

    ʾelehH428 →746 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[were] [the] sons of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • זִלְפָּ֔הZilpah

    zilpahH2153 →7 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־whom

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • נָתַ֥ןhe had given

    natanH5414 →2011 times

  • לָבָ֖ןLaban

    lavanH3837 →55 times

  • לְלֵאָ֣הto Leah

    leleahH3812 →34 times

  • בִתּ֑וֹdaughter his

    vitoH1323 →588 times

  • וַתֵּ֤לֶדand she bore

    vateledH3205 →496 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֵ֙לֶּה֙these

    ʾelehH428 →746 times

  • לְיַעֲקֹ֔בto Jacob

    leyaakoH3290 →350 times

  • שֵׁ֥שׁsix-

    sheshH8337 →216 times

  • עֶשְׂרֵ֖הteen

    ʾesrehH6240 →338 times

  • נָֽפֶשׁ׃person[s]

    nafeshH5315 →754 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 29:24

    And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 30:9–12

      When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

    • Genesis 16:1

      Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

    • Genesis 24:59

      So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men.

  • Through

    Genesis 35:26

    And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 31:18

      and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.

    • Genesis 30:9–13

      When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

    • Genesis 35:18

      And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

    • Genesis 25:20

      and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

    • Genesis 46:16–18

      The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

About Genesis

Jacob Goes to Egypt — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Jacob Goes to Egypt — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 46 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 46 →