Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Genesis 46:25 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 25. 25These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Bilhah's descendants through Dan and Naphtali total seven. Like Zilpah's branch, the descendants associated with a woman given to Rachel are counted as full members of Jacob's household.
Read It With
- Genesis 46:8–27
Read verses 23–25 with Genesis 30:1–8 and 35:25. The earlier birth setting explains the family relationship; the present subtotal gives Bilhah's descendants their place in the migration genealogy.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Bilhah's attribution and seven-person subtotal close the fourth maternal branch so the passage can calculate the whole household.
Read Genesis 46:23–25 together
Why these verses belong together: Dan and Naphtali's descendants are attributed to Bilhah and totaled at seven.
Verse 23. 23 And the sons of Dan; Hushim.
Verse 24. 24 And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.
Verse 25. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.
What Remains True
A person's socially unequal origin does not make that person or their descendants lesser members of a family or community.
How It Can Shape Life
- Recognize people whose histories involve coercive or unequal systems without using their origins to diminish belonging or worth.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Genesis 46:8–27 — Jacob's Household Is CountedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? very strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed text, maternal family background, death notice, migration categories, settlement transition, later clan comparison, seventy tradition, and Acts seventy-five reception.
Exact location: Genesis 46:5–27 with Genesis 29:31–30:24; 35:22–26; 38:1–30; 46:28–47:12; 50:22–26; Exodus 1:1–7; Numbers 26; Deuteronomy 10:22; and Acts 7:14 in the pinned standardized 1769 KJV
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Exact Hebrew family, descent, person, exclusion, subtotal, and household language supporting the received-form categories.
Exact location: WLC Genesis 46:8–27, especially the names heading in v. 8; maternal formulas and subtotals in vv. 15, 18, 22, and 25; direct-descendant and wife-exclusion wording in v. 26; and house-of-Jacob total in v. 27
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Translation cross-checks, KJV idiom clarification, counting categories, and textual-variant notice.
Exact location: NET Genesis 46:8–27 translator notes, especially names, direct descendants, Leah's thirty-three, wives, sixty-six, seventy, and comparison with the Greek and Acts traditions
Open NET Genesis 46 ↗