The 12 tribes of Israel were the family groups descended from Jacob (also called Israel) and, in practice, from his sons and two of his grandsons.
Basic list of the tribes
In the most common biblical listing, the 12 tribes that made up Israel’s territorial tribes are:
- Reuben
- Simeon
- Judah
- Issachar
- Zebulun
- Dan
- Naphtali
- Gad
- Asher
- Benjamin
- Ephraim
- Manasseh
How they are counted
Jacob originally had twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. In the land-division lists, Joseph’s tribe is usually represented by his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, while Levi is set apart as a priestly tribe without a normal territorial allotment, which is why the list of land-holding tribes still totals twelve.
