The Twelve Tribes

The Israelites were divided along family lines, each called a shevet or mateh in Hebrew meaning literally a "staff" or "rod". The term is conventionally translated as "tribe" in English, although the divisions were not small isolated distinct ethnic groups in the modern sense of the term.Some English speaking Jewish groups view the pronunciation, English transcription and Hebrew spelling of the tribal names to be extremely important. The transcriptions and spellings are as follows:

Reuben: ראובן, Standard Rəuven, Tiberian Rəʾ?ḇēn

Simeon: שמעון, Standard imon, Tiberian imʿn

Levi: לוי, Standard Levi, Tiberian Lēw

Judah: יהודה, Standard Yəhuda, Tiberian Yəh?ḏāh

Dan: דן, Standard Dan, Tiberian Dān

Naphtali: נפתלי, Standard Naftali, Tiberian Nap̄tāl

Gad: גד, Standard Gad, Tiberian Gāḏ

Asher: אשר, Standard Aer, Tiberian Āēr

Issachar: יששכר, Standard Yissaḫar, Tiberian Yiśśḵār

Zebulun: זבולן, Standard Zəv?lun, Tiberian Zəḇ?lun

Joseph: יוסף, Standard Yosef, Tiberian Ysēp̄, containing the tribes:

Manasseh: מנשה, Samaritan Manatch, Standard Mənae, Tiberian Mənaeh

Ephraim: אפרים, Samaritan Afrime, Standard Efryim, Tiberian Ep̄ryim/Ep̄rāyim

Benjamin: בנימין, Standard Binyamin, Tiberian Binyāmn

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