Simeon

Family: Jacob's family · Role: Leah's son · First appears: Genesis 29

In Genesis 29, Leah conceived and gave birth to Simeon, naming him because she said the LORD had heard that she was hated. He was a son of Leah and Jacob, and later was counted among Jacob’s twelve sons with Reuben, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

In Genesis 34, Simeon and Levi dealt with Dinah’s violation by conditioning her return on the circumcision of every male in the city: “If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;” On the third day, Simeon and Levi attacked the city, slew its males, killed Hamor and Shechem with swords, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and helped spoil the city. In Genesis 42, Joseph took Simeon from his brothers and bound him before them: “and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.”

Simeon later became the father of Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, Shaul, Nemuel, and Zerah. In Genesis 48, Jacob claimed Ephraim and Manasseh as his own, equal to Reuben and Simeon. In Genesis 49, Jacob charged his sons concerning his burial and spoke of Simeon and Levi’s anger, saying, “Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel,” while also blessing all twelve sons according to their individual blessings and foretelling their division and scattering in Israel.