What Does Numbers 13:5 Mean?
Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
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
Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.THE KEY
This witness’s name line joins hearing and judgment: Simeon carries hearing, and Shaphat carries the act of judging.
THE MEANING
Simeon carries hearing in the name of the tribe, while Shaphat carries judgment in the name of its representative. The verse holds listening and discernment together in one person’s identity. The names themselves carry part of the message.
THE ROOT
שִׁמְעוֹן
Shim'on
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed.
Simeon is understood through שמע (shama, “hear”), and Genesis 29:33 ties the name to “the LORD hath heard.” The English name hides the hearing that remains audible in its Hebrew form.
ALSO GROWS
shema: The imperative form of “hear.”
שְׁמַע
It brings the root’s sense of responsive hearing into view beside Simeon’s name.
shomea: A person who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
It shows how the root can describe a person by the act of hearing.
שָׁפָט
Shaphat
GROWS FROM
שפט
sh-p-ṭ
Judge, decide, govern.
Shaphat carries the root שפט (shaphat, “judge”). Alongside Simeon’s hearing, the name adds discernment: the line places listening and judgment together in the identity of one representative.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: One who judges or governs.
שֹׁפֵט
It makes the personal name’s judgment-bearing root visible.
mishpat: A judgment, decision, or just order.
מִשְׁפָּט
It shows the root extending from a judge to the discernment and order associated with judgment.
THE PATTERN
Scripture lets names carry a person’s nature or work, making identity part of the message.
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.No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.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.Simeon echoes שמע (shama, “hear”), and Leah explains the name with “the LORD hath heard.” That makes the Numbers name a reminder that hearing is carried in the tribe’s identity.
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