Genesis 46:17

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

7 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible

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וְיִשְׁוָ֛ה

Yishvâh

H3438

“and · Ishuai”

Conjunction + Noun, Proper

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7737

TWOT: None

Ishuai or Isuah = "he will resemble" - the 2nd son of Asher

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 →

12: words
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וְיִשְׁוָ֛ה Ishuai H3438 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

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

יִמְנָ֧ה Imna H3232
וְיִשְׁוָ֛ה Ishuai H3438
וְיִשְׁוִ֥י Ishui H3440
וּבְרִיעָ֖ה Beriah H1283
וְשֶׂ֣רַח Serah H8294
חֶ֖בֶר Heber H2268
וּמַלְכִּיאֵֽל Malchiel H4439

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וְיִשְׁוָ֛ה Ishuai H3438 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

1 Chronicles 7:30

Grammatical profile

12 nouns

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

וּבְנֵ֣י son H1121 ×2
וּבְרִיעָ֖ה Beriah H1283 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 words from the Hebrew and 23 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

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 12 Hebrew tokens and 20 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 46:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 30:13 Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." She named him Asher.
Genesis 49:20 Out of Asher his bread will be fat, He will yield royal dainties.
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.
Numbers 1:13 Of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran.
Numbers 1:40–41 Of the children of Asher, 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 forth to war;
Numbers 26:44–46 The sons of Asher after their families: of Imnah, the family of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the family of the Berites.
Deuteronomy 33:24 Of Asher he said, Blessed be Asher with children; Let him be acceptable to his brothers, Let him dip his foot in oil.
1 Chronicles 2:2 Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

1 Chronicles 7:30–40 The sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.

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.

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

Hebrew Genesis 46:17 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּבְנֵ֣י אָשֵׁ֗ר יִמְנָ֧ה וְיִשְׁוָ֛ה וְיִשְׁוִ֥י וּבְרִיעָ֖ה וְשֶׂ֣רַח אֲחֹתָ֑ם וּבְנֵ֣י בְרִיעָ֔ה חֶ֖בֶר וּמַלְכִּיאֵֽל

The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 46:17 Septuagint · lemma form

υἱός δέ ασηρ ιεμνα καί ιεσουα καί ιεουλ καί βαρια καί σαρα ἀδελφή αὐτός υἱός δέ βαρια χοβορ καί μελχιηλ

And the sons of Aser; Jemna, Jessua, and Jeul, and Baria, and Sara their sister. And the sons of Baria; Chobor, and Melchiil.

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 אָשֵׁר יִמְנָה וְיִשְׁוָה וְיִשְׁוִי וּבְרִיעָה וְשֶׂרַח אֲחַתְהוֹן וּבְנֵי בְרִיעָה חֶבֶר וּמַלְכִּיאֵל

(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 דְאָשֵׁר יִמְנָה וְיִשְׁוָה וְיִשְׁוִי וּבְרִיעָה וְשֶרַח אֲחַתְהוֹן דְאִידְבָּרִית כַּד הִיא קְיָימָא לְגִינוּנִיתָא עַל דְבַשְרַת לְיַעֲקב דְיוֹסֵף קַיֵים הִיא שִׁיזִיבַת לְיַתְבֵי אָבֵל מִדִין קְטוֹל בְּיוֹמֵי יוֹאָב וּבְנוֹי דִבְרִיעָה דְנַחֲתוּ לְמִצְרַיִם חֶבֶר וּמַלְכִּיאֵל

The children of Asher, Yimna, Yishvah, Yishvi, Beriah and Serach their sister, who was carried away while alive into the Garden (of Eden), because she had announced to Jakob that Joseph still lived. It was she who saved the inhabitants of (the city) Abel from the judgment of death, in the days of Joab. The sons of Beriah who went down into Mizraim were Heber and Malkiel.

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 46:17 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

(17) Asher has four sons:

Num_26:44-45. 1Ch_7:30.

Jimnah,Jimna,Imnah,Ishuah,(omitted)Isuah,Isui,Jesui,Ishuai,Beriah.Beriah.Beriah.

The sister is everywhere Serach, though called Serah here, and Sarah in Numbers. The three documents all agree in the names of Heber and Malchiel, sons of Beriah.

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

17. Ishvi] This name, omitted in Num., is probably due to the erroneous repetition of “Ishvah.”

Serah their sister] Notice the solitary mention of a female descendant in the younger generation.

Heber, and Malchiel] It is tempting to compare Ḥeber = “confederate” (1Ch_4:18), with the Ḥabiri, and Malchiel with Milkili, the name of a prince of Southern Canaan in the Tel-el-Amarna tablets.

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

And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim,.... And therefore not to be reckoned with those that went down with Jacob thither; for which reason the clause, "in the land of Egypt", is inserted, see Gen 41:50,

which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, bare unto him; here again the Targum of Jonathan makes Asenath to be the daughter of Dinah, who it says was educated in the house of Potipherah prince of Tanis; See Gill on Gen 41:50.

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 Asher; Jimnah, (Gesenius) and Ishuah, Level" (Gesenius)and Isui, "Level" (Gesenius): they may have been twinsand Beriah, (Gesenius), "In Evil" (Murphy)and Serah (Gesenius), "Overflow" (Murphy) their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, (Gesenius)and Malchiel of El" (Gesenius, Murphy), "My king is El" (Lange).

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

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 12 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Yishvâh (“Ishuai”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Ishuai” (Yishvâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
7 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
1 Chronicles 7:30 shares the word «Ishuai» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“son” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Reading how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

7 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 12 Hebrew ↔ 20 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
“son” occurs 2× in this single verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 12 words in this verse.