The Twelve Tribes - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

The Israelites were divided along family lines, each called a shevet or mateh in Hebrew meaning literally a "staff" or "rod". The term is conventionally translated as "tribe" in English, although the divisions were not small isolated distinct ethnic groups in the modern sense of the term.

In Egypt the house of Joseph was divided into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, by virtue of Jacob's blessing. (Genesis 48:8-21)

Some English speaking Jewish groups view the pronunciation, English transcription and Hebrew spelling of the tribal names to be extremely important. The transcriptions and spellings are as follows:

* Reuben: ראובן, Standard Rəʾuven, Tiberian Rəʾûḇēn
* Simeon: שמעון, Standard Šimʿon, Tiberian Šimʿôn
* Levi: לוי, Standard Levi, Tiberian Lēwî (which did not share in the apportionment of the Land)
* Judah: יהודה, Standard Yəhuda, Tiberian Yəhûḏāh
* Dan: דן, Standard Dan, Tiberian Dān
* Naphtali: נפתלי, Standard Naftali, Tiberian Nap̄tālî
* Gad: גד, Standard Gad, Tiberian Gāḏ
* Asher: אשר, Standard Ašer, Tiberian ʾĀšēr
* Issachar: יששכר, Standard Yissaḫar, Tiberian Yiśśâḵār
* Zebulun: זבולן, Standard Zəvúlun, Tiberian Zəḇûlun
* Joseph: יוסף, Standard Yosef, Tiberian Yôsēp̄, containing the tribes:
o Manasseh: מנשה, Standard Mənašše, Tiberian Mənaššeh, Samaritan Manatch
o Ephraim: אפרים, Standard Efráyim, Tiberian ʾEp̄ráyim / ʾEp̄rāyim, Samaritan Afrime
* Benjamin: בנימין, Standard Binyamin, Tiberian Binyāmîn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites

Bereishit 49 (Genesis 49)
1 And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather yourselves and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
2 Gather yourselves and hear, sons of Jacob; yea, listen to your father Israel:
3 Reuben, you are my first born, my strength and the firstfruit of my power; excellence of dignity and excellence of might.
4 Like bubbling water you shall not excel, for you went up to the bed of your father; then you defiled it; he went up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi, brothers; their weapons are instruments of violence.
6 Let not my soul come into their counsel; let not my spirit be joined to their company. For in their anger they killed a man; and in selfwill they hamstrung a bull.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah, may your brothers praise you, your hand be on the neck of your enemies. May the sons of your father bow themselves to you.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp. My son, you have risen up from the prey; he stoops, he crouches like a lion; and like a lioness, who can rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawmaker from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and the obedience of the peoples to him.
11 Binding his foal to the vine, and his ass's colt to the choice vine, he washes his clothing in wine, and his covering in the bloods of grapes.
12 His eyes shall be dark from wine and his teeth white from milk.
13 Zebulun shall live at the seashore, and he shall be a haven of ships, even his border beside Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass, crouching between the sheepfolds.
15 And he saw a resting place that it was good , and that the land was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a tribute slave.
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Let Dan be a serpent on the way, a horned snake on the path that bites the horses' heels, and its rider falls backward.
18 I have waited for your salvation, O JHWH.
19 Gad, a raiding band shall attack him, and he shall attack their heel.
20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall give a king's delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a deer let loose giving one beautiful sayings.
22 Joseph is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by a spring; his branches run over a wall.
23 And the masters of arrows harass him, and shoot, and an archer lurks for him.
24 His bow abides in strength, and the hands of his arms are made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
25 From the Elohim of your father, may He help you. And may the Almighty bless you with blessings of Heaven from above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and womb.
26 The blessings of your father are above the blessings of my offspring, to the limit of everlasting hills; may they be for the head of Joseph and for the crown of the leader of his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a wolf that tears. In the morning he devours the prey, and at evening he divides the spoil.
28 All these were the tribes of Israel, two and ten. And this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them, each one with what was according to his blessing, he blessed them.
29 And he commanded them and said to them I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me beside my fathers, at the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 in the cave in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the field which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place.
31 They buried Abraham and his wife Sarah there, and they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and I buried Leah there;
32 the purchase of the field and the cave in it, from the sons of Heth.
33 And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered his feet into the bed. And he expired, and was gathered to his people.

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