Numbers 1:32

Bible in Basic English (1941)

The generations of the sons of Joseph were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לִבְנֵ֤י יוֹסֵף֙ לִבְנֵ֣י אֶפְרַ֔יִם תּוֹלְדֹתָ֥ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמֹ֗ת מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כֹּ֖ל יֹצֵ֥א צָבָֽא׃

Transliteration

For bənê Yôsēp for bənê ʾEprayim tôlədōtām for mišpəḥōtām for bêt ʾăbōtām in mispar šēmōt from ben twenty šānāh and wamaʿlāh all yōṣēʾ ṣābāʾ

Grammar Details

• *li-*: preposition - for/to
• *bənê*: construct masculine plural - sons of
• *Yôsēp*: proper noun - Joseph
• *ʾEprayim*: proper noun - Ephraim (tribe name)
• *tôlədōtām*: feminine plural noun with 3rd person masculine plural possessive suffix - their generations/genealogy
• *lə-*: preposition - for/according to
• *mišpəḥōtām*: feminine plural noun with 3rd person masculine plural possessive suffix - their families/clans
• *bêt*: construct masculine singular - house of
• *ʾăbōtām*: masculine plural noun with 3rd person masculine plural possessive suffix - their fathers
• *bə-*: preposition - in/by
• *mispar*: construct masculine singular - number of
• *šēmōt*: masculine plural - names
• *mi-*: preposition - from
• *ben*: construct masculine singular - son of/aged
• *ʿeśrîm*: cardinal number - twenty
• *šānāh*: feminine singular - year
• *wā-*: conjunction - and
• *maʿlāh*: adverb - upward/above
• *kōl*: masculine singular - all/every
• *yōṣēʾ*: masculine singular participle - going out/coming forth
• *ṣābāʾ*: masculine singular - army/warfare

Word Meanings

• *bənê*: sons/descendants
• *tôlədōtām*: their generations/genealogies/family records
• *mišpəḥōtām*: their families/clans
• *bêt ʾăbōtām*: their fathers' houses/ancestral houses
• *mispar šēmōt*: number of names/census count
• *ben ʿeśrîm šānāh*: son of twenty years/twenty years old
• *wamaʿlāh*: upward/above/older
• *yōṣēʾ ṣābāʾ*: going out to war/able to serve in army

Referenced Verses

• Num 26:35-37 : 35 These are the sons of Ephraim by their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites: of Becher, the family of the Becherites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. 36 And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites: 37 These are the families of Ephraim as they were numbered, thirty-two thousand, five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph by their families.
• Deut 33:17 : 17 He is a young ox, glory is his; his horns are the horns of the mountain ox, with which all peoples will be wounded, even to the ends of the earth: they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.
• Gen 30:24 : 24 And she gave him the name Joseph, saying, May the Lord give me another son.
• Gen 37:1-9 : 1 Now Jacob was living in the land where his father had made a place for himself, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a boy seventeen years old, was looking after the flock, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph gave their father a bad account of them. 3 Now the love which Israel had for Joseph was greater than his love for all his other children, because he got him when he was an old man: and he had a long coat made for him. 4 And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he gave his brothers an account of it, which made their hate greater than ever. 6 And he said to them, Let me give you the story of my dream. 7 We were in the field, getting the grain stems together, and my grain kept upright, and yours came round and went down on the earth before mine. 8 And his brothers said to him, Are you to be our king? will you have authority over us? And because of his dream and his words, their hate for him became greater than ever. 9 Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honour to me. 10 And he gave word of it to his father and his brothers; but his father protesting said, What sort of a dream is this? am I and your mother and your brothers to go down on our faces to the earth before you? 11 And his brothers were full of envy; but his father kept his words in mind. 12 Now his brothers went to keep watch over their father's flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I. 14 And he said to him, Go now, and see if your brothers are well and how the flock is; then come back and give me word. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man saw him wandering in the country, and said to him, What are you looking for? 16 And he said, I am looking for my brothers; please give me word of where they are keeping their flock. 17 And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dothan. 18 But they saw him when he was a long way off, and before he came near them they made a secret design against him to put him to death; 19 Saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer. 20 Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams. 21 But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life. 22 Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on; 24 And they took him and put him in the hole: now the hole had no water in it. 25 Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels. 26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood? 27 Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him. 28 And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt. 29 Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there; and giving signs of grief, 30 He went back to his brothers, and said, The child is gone; what am I to do? 31 Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death, 32 And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not? 33 And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end. 34 Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him. 36 And in Egypt the men of Midian gave him for a price to Potiphar, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house.
• Gen 39:1-9 : 1 Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he did well; and he was living in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, making everything he did go well. 4 And having a high opinion of Joseph as his servant, he made him the overseer of his house and gave him control over all he had. 5 And from the time when he made him overseer and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian, because of Joseph; the blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field. 6 And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything, but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face. 7 And after a time, his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover. 8 But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control; 9 So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God? 10 And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover, but he would not give ear to her. 11 Now one day he went into the house to do his work; and not one of the men of the house was inside. 12 And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed; but slipping out of his coat, he went running away. 13 And when she saw that he had got away, letting her keep his coat, 14 She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry; 15 And hearing it he went running out without his coat. 16 And she kept his coat by her, till his master came back. 17 Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me; 18 And when I gave a loud cry he went running out without his coat. 19 And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry. 20 And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend. 22 And the keeper of the prison put all the prisoners under Joseph's control, and he was responsible for whatever was done there. 23 And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him; and the Lord made everything he did go well.
• Gen 46:20 : 20 And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.
• Gen 48:1-9 : 1 Now after these things, word came to Joseph that his father was ill: and he took with him his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And when they said to Jacob, Your son Joseph is coming to see you: then Israel, getting all his strength together, had himself lifted up in his bed. 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God, the Ruler of all, came to me in a vision at Luz in the land of Canaan, and gave me his blessing, 4 And said to me, Truly, I will make you fertile and give you increase and will make of you a great family of nations: and I will give this land to your seed after you to be their heritage for ever. 5 And now your two sons who came to birth in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, in the same way as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 And any other offspring which you have after them, will be yours, and will be named after their brothers in their heritage. 7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, death overtook Rachel on the way, when we were still some distance from Ephrath; and I put her to rest there on the road to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem. 8 Then Israel, looking at Joseph's sons, said, Who are these? 9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this land. And he said, Let them come near me, and I will give them a blessing. 10 Now because Israel was old, his eyes were no longer clear, and he was not able to see. So he made them come near to him, and he gave them a kiss, folding them in his arms. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had no hope of seeing your face again, but God in his mercy has let me see you and your children. 12 Then Joseph took them from between his knees, and went down on his face to the earth. 13 Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel's left side, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel's right side, placing them near him. 14 And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older. 15 And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day, 16 The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth. 17 Now when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it did not seem right to him; and lifting his father's hand he would have put it on the head of Manasseh. 18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the older; put your right hand on his head. 19 But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations. 20 So he gave them his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, Now my death is near; but God will be with you, guiding you back to the land of your fathers. 22 And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.
• Gen 49:22-26 : 22 Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain; 23 He was troubled by the archers; they sent out their arrows against him, cruelly wounding him: 24 But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the Strength of Jacob, by the name of the Stone of Israel: 25 Even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the Ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth, blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body: 26 Blessings of sons, old and young, to the father: blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills: let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers.
• Num 2:18-19 : 18 On the west side will be the flag of the children of Ephraim, with Elishama, the son of Ammihud, as their chief. 19 The number of his army was forty thousand, five hundred.