Keluaran 6:14

The Ancestry of the Deliverer

6:14 ¹ These are the heads of their fathers’ households: ² 

The sons ³  of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans ⁴  of Reuben.

Keluaran 28:9

28:9 “You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ⁵ 

Keluaran 28:21

28:21 The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of ⁶  their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like ⁷  the engravings of a seal.

Keluaran 39:6

39:6 They set the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved as with the engravings of a seal ⁸  with the names of the sons of Israel. ⁹ 

Keluaran 39:14

39:14 The stones were for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, corresponding to the number of ¹⁰  their names. Each name corresponding to one of the twelve tribes was like the engravings of a seal.

[6:14]  ¹ sn This list of names shows that Moses and Aaron are in the line of Levi that came to the priesthood. It helps to identify them and authenticate them as spokesmen for God within the larger history of Israel. As N. M. Sarna observes, “Because a genealogy inherently symbolizes vigor and continuity, its presence here also injects a reassuring note into the otherwise despondent mood” (Exodus [JPSTC], 33).

[6:14]  ² tn The expression is literally “the house of their fathers.” This expression means that the household or family descended from a single ancestor. It usually indicates a subdivision of a tribe, that is, a clan, or the subdivision of a clan, that is, a family. Here it refers to a clan (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 46).

[6:14]  ³ tn Or “descendants.”

[6:14]  ⁴ tn Or “families,” and so throughout the genealogy.

[28:9]  ⁵ tn Although this is normally translated “Israelites,” here a more literal translation is clearer because it refers to the names of the twelve tribes – the actual sons of Israel.

[28:21]  ⁶ tn For clarity the words “the number of” have been supplied.

[28:21]  ⁷ tn The phrase translated “the engravings of a seal” is an adverbial accusative of manner here.

[39:6]  ⁸ tn Or “as seals are engraved.”

[39:6]  ⁹ sn The twelve names were those of Israel’s sons. The idea was not the remembrance of the twelve sons as such, but the twelve tribes that bore their names.

[39:14]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “the number of” has been supplied.