References (43)
And she [Leah] became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and said, "Because the Lord (Yahweh) has heard (Hebr. shama) that I am hated (unloved, repulsive, rejected), he has given me this son also." And she named him Simeon (Hebr. Shimon – meaning: "to hear").
And it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came upon the city unnoticed and struck down all its men.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble upon me (created chaos, caused me great distress). Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites who live in the land will hate me (literally: 'I have become an odour/stink among them'). Since we are few (I am few in number), they will unite against me and strike me down, and I will be destroyed, I and my house."
Leah's [six] sons:
Reuben, Jacob's firstborn,
and Simeon
and Levi
and Judah
and Issachar
and Zebulun (Hebr. Zevolun).
[Joseph was deeply moved by what he heard.] He turned away from them and wept. He returned to them and spoke to them, and took Simeon from them and had him imprisoned before their eyes. [Simeon means "he who hears." Joseph tests his brothers to see if they would abandon Simeon, just as they abandoned him. Simeon was known for his harshness, see ; . Perhaps he was the driving force behind how the brothers treated Joseph more than 20 years earlier.]
Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have robbed me of my children. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away. All this has come upon me (all this has befallen me)."
Then he said, "Peace (shalom) be with you, do not be afraid. Your God (Elohim) and the God (Elohim) of your fathers has given you treasure in your sacks. I have received your money." Then he brought Simeon out to them.
Simeon's (Shimon's) sons:
Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.
[Jacob continues speaking to Joseph:] Now your two sons are mine, those who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in the land of Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh, just as Reuben and Simeon are and shall be mine.
Simeon and Levi are brothers
– the weapons of violence are their blood ties.
[Simeon means "to hear"; Levi "joined together with".]
Reuben (Hebr. Reoven), Simeon (Hebr. Shimon), Levi, and Judah (Hebr. Jehoda);
The sons of Simeon [Shimon – Jacob's second son]:
Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Sochar (Tsochar), and Saul (Shaol), the son of a Canaanite woman;
these were the families of the Simeonites.
From Simeon (hebr. Shimon): Shelumiel, son of Tsorishadai.
The sons of Simeon, their generations, according to their families, according to their fathers' houses, by their names, every male individually, every male from 20 years old and upward, all who were sent out to war,
this was the number of those of the tribe of Simeon, they were 59,300.
And those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon.
The leader of the sons of Simeon is Shelumiel, son of Tsorishadaj,
On the 5th day, Shelumiel, son of Tsorishadaj, leader of the sons of Simeon, offered his sacrifice.
And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was Shelumiel, son of Tsorishadai.
From the tribe of Simeon, Shafat, son of Choris.
The name of the Israelite man who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a leader of the fathers' houses among the Simeonites.
The sons of Simeon according to their families:
Of Nemoel, the family of the Nemoelites,
of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites,
of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites,
These are the families of the Simeonites, 22,200.
[First count: 59,300, a decrease of 37,100.]
From the tribe of Simeon,
Samuel (Shmoel), son of Amihod.
These [six tribes] shall stand on Mount Gerizim [present-day Jebel-et-Tur, to the south] and bless the people when you have crossed the Jordan:
Simeon (Shimon) and
Levi and
Judah (Jehoda) and
Issachar (Jisashchar) and
Joseph and
Benjamin (Binjamin).
And the second lot fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah.
And all the villages that were around these cities as far as Baalot-Beer, as far as Ramah in the south. This is the inheritance of the sons of Simeon according to their families.
From the lot of the sons of Judah was the inheritance of the sons of Simeon, for the portion of the sons of Judah was too large for them, so the sons of Simeon had their inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.
And the lot fell to the families of the Kohathites, the sons of Aaron the priest, who were Levites, and the lot fell to the tribe of Judah, and to the tribe of Simeon, and to the tribe of Benjamin, 13 cities.
And they gave from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon these cities that are named.
[Seven sections now describe how the Israelites fail to conquer the land. The first describes two tribes (Judah and Simeon) that have some success, followed by five tribes (Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali) that fail, ending with Dan's catastrophic defeat, see . The number seven is included in the deliberate structure. The five tribes that are not listed separately are Reuben, Levi, Gad, and Issachar. Simeon, who is within the territory of Judah, is mentioned briefly in the introduction together with Judah, but already in the next verse the focus is not on them but on Judah, see .]
Judah [the people of the tribe of Judah] said to his brother Simeon (Shimon) [the people of the tribe of Simeon]: "Come up with me to my inheritance, that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go up with you to your inheritance." And Simeon went with him.
[Simeon's territory is located near the city of Beer-Sheva and the territory of the tribe of Judah surrounding it, mostly to the east towards the mountains, see . It is therefore natural that these two tribes help each other. Simeon is known for his zeal for justice and vengeance when they rescue and avenge their sister Dinah, who has been raped, see , . Now follow seven episodes, from north to south in the territory of the tribe of Judah, where they have some success in conquering the land.]
And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that dwelt in Zephath [12 km east of Beersheba in the Negev desert] and utterly destroyed them [; ]. And they called the city Hormah [which sounds like the word for "total destruction" in Hebrew, see ].
These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,
The sons of Simeon were:
Nemuel and Jamin, Jariv, Zerach, Saul (Hebr. Shaol).
[The list groups Nemuel first and then the other four, see also ; ; .]
Of them, of the children of Simeon, five hundred men went to the hill country of Seir. And Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Jish, were their leaders.
By lot they were given the cities whose names are listed above from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
of the sons of Simeon, brave warriors, 7,100,
The leaders of the tribes of Israel were these:
The leader of the Reubenites was Eliezer, son of Zichri,
of the Simeonites, Shephatiah, son of Maacah,
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the strangers from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who lived among them. Many from Israel had joined him when they saw that the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim), was with him.
He searched the houses throughout the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali.
Next to Benjamin's territory, Simeon shall have a lot, from the east side to the west.
Next to Simeon's territory, Issachar shall have a lot, from the east side to the west.
Similarly, the south side shall also measure 4,500 cubits [2.3 km] and have three gates: the first shall be the gate of Simeon, the second the gate of Issachar, and the third the gate of Zebulun.
from the tribe of Simeon 12,000 [],
from the tribe of Levi 12,000 [the priests, who were not normally counted, see ],
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000 [],
