Numbers 26:31

Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite assembly in the plains of Moab, recording a second census of the tribes before they cross the Jordan. The verse names two family units descending from Gilead’s offspring.

The words — מִשְׁפַּחַת (mishpaḥat) designates a clan or extended family group. הָאִשְׁרִיאֵלִי (ha'ishri'eli) and הַשְּׁכְמִי (hashk'mi) are patronymic adjectives identifying the descendants of Asriel and Shechem.

The thread — This verse operates as a catalog entry within Numbers 26:30–32, maintaining a fixed sequence of patriarch followed by clan designation. The same structural pattern repeats throughout the wilderness census records in Numbers 1 and 26.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to track preserved family identities across a generation of wilderness wandering. It establishes the genealogical basis for future territorial inheritance and tribal organization.

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.