26:15 The Gadites by their families: from Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; from Haggi, the family of the Haggites; from Shuni, the family of the Shunites; 26:16 from Ozni, 3 the family of the Oznites; from Eri, 4 the family of the Erites; 26:17 from Arod, 5 the family of the Arodites, and from Areli, the family of the Arelites. 26:18 These were the families of the Gadites according to those numbered of them, 40,500. 6
46:16 The sons of Gad:
Zephon, 10 Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
49:19 Gad will be raided by marauding bands,
but he will attack them at their heels. 11
1 tn The Hebrew text simply has “and the tribe of Gad.”
2 tc The Leningrad codex, upon which BHS is based, has “Reuel” here. In reading “Deuel” the translation presented above follows many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, Smr, and the Latin Vulgate. Cf. Num 1:14.
3 tc The MT of Gen 46:16 reads this as “Ezbon.”
4 tc The Greek version and Smr have “Ad[d]i,” probably by confusion of letters.
5 tc Gen 46:16 and the LXX here read “Arodi.”
6 sn The Gadites decreased from 45,650 to 40,500.
7 tn Heb “and Zilpah, the servant of Leah, bore for Jacob a son.”
8 tc The statement in the Kethib (consonantal text) appears to mean literally “with good fortune,” if one takes the initial בְּ (bet) as a preposition indicating accompaniment. The Qere (marginal reading) means “good fortune has arrived.”
9 sn The name Gad (גָּד, gad) means “good fortune.” The name reflects Leah’s feeling that good fortune has come her way, as expressed in her statement recorded earlier in the verse.
10 tc The MT reads “Ziphion,” but see Num 26:15, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, all of which read “Zephon.”
11 tc Heb “heel.” The MT has suffered from misdivision at this point. The initial mem on the first word in the next verse should probably be taken as a plural ending on the word “heel.”