What Does Genesis 46:10 Mean?
And the sons of Simeon, Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.THE KEY
This family line preserves belonging alongside difference: Shaul is named among Simeon’s sons and through his Canaanite mother.
THE MEANING
Your inheritance can hold shared belonging and distinct origins together: this verse names Simeon’s sons as a family, while keeping Shaul’s Canaanite maternal origin visible. The list does not flatten that difference.
THE ROOT
שִׁמְעוֹן
Shim'on
GROWS FROM
שׁמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear; listen.
Simeon carries the sense “heard,” from a root of hearing. Genesis 29:33 makes the name’s meaning explicit: Leah names him because the LORD has heard her, and this verse carries that name into his descendants.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear or listen.
שָׁמַע
This verb shares the seed in Simeon’s name, whose meaning Genesis 29:33 ties to being heard.
shemu'ah: A report or tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch keeps hearing connected to what is received and carried onward, as Simeon’s name is carried through the family line.
שָׁאוּל
Sha'ul
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
sh-ʾ-l
Ask, inquire, or request.
Shaul’s name belongs to the language of asking and requesting. The verse gives no explanation for the name, but its meaning adds another layer to a list that also preserves his distinct maternal origin.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: To ask or request.
שָׁאַל
This verb is the seed behind Shaul’s name, placing asking within the name carried by this family line.
she'elah: A request or petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
This related noun shows the root’s movement from asking to what is asked for, echoing the sense carried by Shaul’s name.
THE PATTERN
Scripture keeps identity concrete by naming relationships and preserving the stories carried in names.
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Because the LORD has heard that I was hated, he has therefore given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon, Heard.And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so Abraham fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered the twelve father-rulers.THE THREAD
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Because the LORD has heard that I was hated, he has therefore given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon, Heard.Genesis 29:33 explains Simeon’s name through Leah’s words: the LORD has heard her. That meaning remains within the name as this verse carries Simeon’s line forward.
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