Genesis 46:16

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

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

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
7 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible
Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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צִפְי֥וֹן

Tsiphyôwn

H6837

“Ziphion”

Noun, Proper

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6822

TWOT: None

Ziphion = "lookout" - a son of Gad and progenitor of the family of Zephonites - also 'Zephon'

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

צִפְי֥וֹן Ziphion H6837

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

צִפְי֥וֹן Ziphion H6837
וְחַגִּ֖י Haggi H2291
שׁוּנִ֣י Shuni H7764
וְאֶצְבֹּ֑ן Ezbon H675
עֵרִ֥י Eri H6179
וַֽאֲרוֹדִ֖י Arodi H722
וְאַרְאֵלִֽי Areli H692

Shared distinctive vocabulary

שׁוּנִ֣י Shuni H7764 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Numbers 26:15

Grammatical profile

9 nouns

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 18 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Genesis 46:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 26:15–17 The sons of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites;
Genesis 30:11 Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad.
Genesis 35:26 The sons of Zilpah (Leah's handmaid): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
Genesis 49:19 "Gad, a troop will press on him; But he will press on their heel.
Numbers 1:11 Of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni.
Numbers 1:24–25 Of the children of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
Deuteronomy 33:20–21 Of Gad he said, Blessed be he who enlarges Gad: He dwells as a lioness, Tears the arm, yes, the crown of the head.
1 Chronicles 2:2 Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

1 Chronicles 5:11–16 The sons of Gad lived over against them, in the land of Bashan to Salecah:

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 18 words vs World English Bible 12. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 46:16 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּבְנֵ֣י גָ֔ד צִפְי֥וֹן וְחַגִּ֖י שׁוּנִ֣י וְאֶצְבֹּ֑ן עֵרִ֥י וַֽאֲרוֹדִ֖י וְאַרְאֵלִֽי

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

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 46:16 Septuagint · lemma form

υἱός δέ γαδ σαφων καί αγγις καί σαυνις καί θασοβαν καί αηδις καί αροηδις καί αροηλις

And the sons of Gad; Saphon, and Angis, and Sannis, and Thasoban, and Aedis, and Aroedis, and Areelis.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּבְנֵי גָד צִפְיוֹן וְחַגִּי שׁוּנִי וְאֶצְבּוֹן עֵרִי וַאֲרוֹדִי וְאַרְאֵלִי

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּבְנוֹי דְגָד צִפְיוֹן וְחַגִי שׁוּנִי וְאֶצְבּוֹן עֵרִי וַאֲרוֹדִי וְאַרְאֵלִי

And the children of Gad, Sephon, Haggi, Suni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 46:16 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Gad, the eldest of the sons of Zilpah, has seven eons:

Num_26:15-17.

Ziphion,Zephon,Haggi,Haggi,Shuni,Shuni,Ezbon,Ozni,Eri,Eri.Arodi,Arod,Areli.Areli.

In 1Ch_5:11-15 only the registration of the Gadites is given in the time of King Jotham.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

16. sons of Gad] A different enumeration is found in 1Ch_5:11-17.

Ziphion] In Num_26:15, Zephon. Zaphon a Gadite city, Jos_13:27.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

The sons Rachel, Jacob's wife,.... The wife of his affection and choice, his principal wife, yea, his only lawful wife; Zilpah and Bilhah were his concubines, and as for Leah, she was imposed and forced upon him:

Joseph and Benjamin; the first was in Egypt already, the other now went down with Jacob.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, Expectation" (Gesenius); Zephon (Num_26:15) and Haggi, (Gesenius)Shuni, (Gesenius)and Esbon, (Murphy); named Ozni (Num_26:16) Eri, (Gesenius)and Arodi, Ass" (Gesenius), "Rover" (Murphy), "Descendants" (Lange); styled Arod (Num_26:17) and Areli of El" (Murphy), "Son of a Hero" (Gesenius), "Heroic" (Lange).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Zephon ... Haggi, Shuni ... Ezbon, Eri, Arodi ... Areli ... Imnah ... Ishvah, Ishvi ... Beriah ... Heber ... Malkiel

These are the names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

Serah

This is the name of a woman. (See: How to Translate Names)

Zilpah

This is the name of Leah's female servant. See how you translated this name in Genesis 29:24. (See: How to Translate Names)

These sons she bore to Jacob—sixteen in all

This refers to 16 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that were related to Zilpah. (See: Numbers)

translationWords

Gad

Asher

Laban

Leah

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Tsiphyôwn (“Ziphion”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Ziphion” (Tsiphyôwn) shape what this verse is saying?
1 word here appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Why might the author reach for such rare wording?
7 words make their first appearance in Scripture here. What does this debut establish?
How does Numbers 26:15, which shares the word «Shuni», read alongside this verse?
The Septuagint runs longer here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
Compare how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
7 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 16 Greek words.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.