mishpacha · family, clan

What it means

mishpacha (מִשְׁפָּחָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “family, clan”.

Family in a wide sense: clan, a group of relatives; of animals, kind.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A group of relatives within a tribe.
2. Each of the peoples of the earth, seen as kinships.
3. Each separate kind of creature or of calamity.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Family in a wide sense: the clan, the group of relatives that forms a part of a tribe. BDB defines it as a circle of relatives; figuratively, a class of persons or a species of animals, and by extension a tribe or people.

• The peoples of the earth, “according to their families” Genesis 10:5Genesis 12:3
• The clan within the tribe, in the censuses Numbers 1:2Joshua 7:14
• A person's family Ruth 2:1
• The kinds of animals that come out of the ark Genesis 8:19

Historical and cultural background

Joshua 7:14 shows the order of the groups: the tribe, then the family (the clan), then the household and, last, each man.

How we translate it

“Families” 166 times, “family” 118, “clan” 12, “clans” 6. This edition's glossary sets “family”, and it is kept consistently; the context shows that it is a wider group than the household. Where a single person's kin is meant, it sometimes says “clan” (“of the clan of Elimelech”, Ruth 2:1).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• families ×166
• family ×118
• clan ×12
• clans ×6
• kinds ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×12
• Exodus×7
• Leviticus×6
• Numbers×159
• Deuteronomy×1
• Joshua×47
• Judges×8
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×7
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Chronicles×19
• Nehemiah×1
• Esther×2
• Job×2
• Psalms×3
• Jeremiah×9
• Ezekiel×1
• Amos×2
• Micah×1
• Nahum×1
• Zechariah×11

• Genesis 8:19

  Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, by their families went out of the ark.

• Genesis 10:5

  From these the coastlands of the nations separated into their lands, each according to his language, according to their families, in their nations.

• Genesis 10:18

  the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. And afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.

• Genesis 10:20

  These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, in their nations.

• Genesis 10:31

  These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

• Genesis 10:32

  These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations separated on the earth after the flood.

• Genesis 12:3

  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who treats you with contempt I will curse; and in you all the families of the ground will be blessed.”

• Genesis 24:38

  but to the house of my father you will go, and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’

• Genesis 24:40

  He said to me, ‘YHWH, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make successful your journey, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from the house of my father.

• Genesis 24:41

  Then you will be free from my imprecation, when you come to my family; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my imprecation.’

• Genesis 28:14

  Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the ground will be blessed in you and in your offspring.

• Genesis 36:40

  These are the names of the chieftains of Esau, according to their families, by their places, by their names: the chieftain Timna, the chieftain Alvah, the chieftain Jetheth,

• Exodus 6:14

  These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Enoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

• Exodus 6:15

  The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of the Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.

• Exodus 6:17

  The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

• Exodus 6:19

  The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.

• Exodus 6:24

  The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.

• Exodus 6:25

  Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

• Exodus 12:21

  Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves animals of the flock for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb.

• Leviticus 20:5

  then I will set my face against that man and against his clan, and I will cut off him and all who prostitute themselves after him, prostituting themselves after Molech, from among their people.

• Leviticus 25:10

  And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you, and you shall return, each to his possession, and each to his clan you shall return.

• Leviticus 25:41

  Then he shall go out from you, he and his sons with him, and return to his clan, and to the possession of his fathers he shall return.

• Leviticus 25:45

  And also from the sons of the temporary residents who reside with you, from them you may buy, and from their clans that are with you, whom they have fathered in your land; and they may be yours as a possession.

• Leviticus 25:47

  And if the hand of a resident alien or a temporary resident with you prospers, and your brother becomes poor beside him and sells himself to the resident alien, the temporary resident with you, or to a descendant of the clan of a resident alien,

• Leviticus 25:49

  or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his close relatives from his clan may redeem him; or if his hand prospers, he may redeem himself.

• Numbers 1:2

  “Take a census of the whole community of the sons of Israel by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head.

• Numbers 1:18

  and they assembled the whole community on the first day of the second month, and they declared their descent by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, head by head,

• Numbers 1:20

  The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:22

  Of the sons of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, those of them counted, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:24

  Of the sons of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:26

  Of the sons of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:28

  Of the sons of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:30

  Of the sons of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:32

  Of the sons of Joseph, of the sons of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:34

  Of the sons of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:36

  Of the sons of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:38

  Of the sons of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:40

  Of the sons of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 1:42

  The sons of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone who went out to the army:

• Numbers 2:34

  And the sons of Israel did according to all that YHWH had commanded Moses: so they camped by their banners, and so they set out, each man by his families, by his fathers’ house.

And 263 more times.