Verse Lens · Context pointer
Genesis 46:9 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 9. 9And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Reuben's four sons are named as the first descendant branch under Jacob's firstborn. The verse contributes names to Leah's larger subtotal but does not make an independent claim about their characters or later clans.
Read It With
- Genesis 46:8–27
Read verses 8–15 together. Verse 9 is one line in Leah's family register; the later subtotal and the full maternal grouping supply its function.
Why It Needs Context
The verse is a genealogical entry whose role comes from the branch and subtotal around it; no narrative actions or moral evaluations are supplied.
Read Genesis 46:8–15 together
Why these verses belong together: The names heading and six son-branches culminate in Dinah, Leah's maternal attribution, and the difficult thirty-three-person subtotal.
Verse 8. 8 And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
Verse 9. 9 And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.
Verse 10. 10 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.
Verse 11. 11 And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Verse 12. 12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.
Verse 13. 13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.
Verse 14. 14 And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.
Verse 15. 15 These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.
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 context pointer
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 ↗