Numbers

The Twelve Tribes of Israel

• Reuben
• Simeon
• Judah
• Dan
• Naphtali
• Gad
• Asher
• Issachar
• Zebulun
• Manasseh
• Ephraim
• Benjamin

Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
Reuben, you are my first born, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart form Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.
Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.
Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.
I look for your deliverance, O Lord.
Gad, will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
Asher's food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.—Genesis 49:2-28.

The Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said:
Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. You and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army. One man from each tribe, each the head of his family, is to help you. These are the names of the men who are to assist you:
From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur.
From Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
From Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
From Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar.
From Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon.
From the sons of Joseph:
from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud;
from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.
From Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni.
From Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
From Asher, Pagiel the son of Ocran.
From Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel.
From Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.
These were the men appointed from the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the head of the clans of Israel.
Moses and Aaron took these men whose names had been given, and they called the whole community together on the first day of the second month. The people indicated their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men twenty years old or more were listed by name, one by one, as the Lord commanded Moses. And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai:
"From the descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Reuben: 46,500.
"From the descendants of Simeon: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Simeon: 59,300.
"From the descendants of Gad: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Gad: 45,650.
"From the descendants of Judah: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Judah: 74,600.
"From the descendants of Issachar: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Issachar: 54,400.
"From the descendants of Zebulun: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Zebulun: 57,400.
"From the sons of Joseph:
"From the descendants of Ephraim: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Ephraim: 40,500.
"From the descendants of Manasseh: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Manasseh: 32,200.
"From the descendants of Benjamin: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Benjamin: 35,400.
"From the descendants of Dan: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Dan: 62,700.
"From the descendants of Asher, the listing of the clans of their ancestral house by name, head by head, all the males of age twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms. Those registered from the tribe of Asher: 41,500.
"From the descendants of Naphtali: All the men twenty years or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The number from the tribe of Naphtali: 53,400.
"These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel's army were counted according to their families. The total number was 603,550."—Numbers 1:1-46.

"Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'"—Matthew 19:28.

How It's Used

"In ancient times, Rabbi Serels explained, there were 12 tribes of Jews, united by their common monotheistic beliefs. When Saul became King, they began viewing themselves as unified by one ruler. Under various subsequent kings, Jews lived in the land known as Israel, but after the destruction of the first Temple, in 586 B.C., they also began to settle in Egypt, Iraq and Iran and to ''pick up local customs,'' Rabbi Serels said. The destruction of the second Temple, in 70 B.C., caused further diaspora into Greece, Rome, North Africa and Asia."

"Rafi Smith, manager of leading Israeli pollster Smith Research and Consulting, said Ms. Rosenblum may have a chance. 'The political system in Israel has split into the 12 tribes, with everybody representing their own narrow interests,' he said."

"The heart of the collection is a series of 81 sculptures lining the walls on the first level and perching on bookcases upstairs. Phillip Ratner created the sculptures to convey the stories of such characters as Noah, Jacob, Miriam, Cain and Abel, and David and Bathsheba. Other images portray the seven days of Creation and 12 tribes of Israel."

“Touro's architectural significance derives from both its design and its designer. 'It is very much an American meeting house, in the Georgian design vernacular, with a simple and austere interior,' said Judith Selwyn, an architectural conservator working with Shawmut on the project.mns gracefully arranged around the main floor support a balcony; 12 Corinthian columns on the balcony support the ceiling. Each column is made of a solid tree trunk. The number 12 refers to the 12 tribes of Israel.”

"Some have seen this election in another light, as proof of Israel's Balkanisation, every sector voting for itself rather than the national interest. So the Russian immigrants backed the would-be strongman Avigdor Lieberman, with his quasi-fascist promises to restore law and order, meanwhile redrawing Israel's boundaries to ensure the country's Arab citizens find themselves in Palestine rather than Israel. Meanwhile, those Arab citizens voted, once again, for their own Arab parties; many Mizrachim, Jews originally from north African or Arab countries, voted for their party, Shas; ultra-orthodox European, or Ashkenazi, Jews voted for United Torah Judaism; the settlers voted for the National Union; and pensioners for the pensioners. At least one party for each of the 12 tribes of the new Israel."

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