Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 2:1
These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler opens the genealogical record of Judah by enumerating the twelve tribal patriarchs descended from Jacob. This list functions as the structural header for the tribal histories that immediately follow.
The words — אֵלֶּה ('E.leh) literally means "these" and operates as a demonstrative pointer to the names that follow. בְּנֵי (be.Nei) translates as "sons of," establishing the direct paternal lineage being cataloged.
The thread — The designation Israel appears in Genesis 32:28 where Jacob receives the name after wrestling with God. The tribal enumeration reappears in Revelation 7:5, which records 12,000 sealed individuals from each tribe.
Why it lands — The text states a fixed lineage of twelve names without commentary or theological explanation. It requires the reader to accept tribal ancestry as the unadorned foundation for all subsequent biblical narrative.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
These are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,
Cross-references
- Genesis 32:28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”
- Revelation 7:5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
- Genesis 35:22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Genesis 35:18 And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.
- Genesis 46:8 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
- Genesis 49:2 Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
- Genesis 49:4 Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
- Exodus 1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
- Genesis 29:32 And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”
- Numbers 13:4 and these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;