Tribe
Tribe [1]
trı̄b (in the Old Testament always for מטּה , maṭṭeh , 183 times, or שׁבט , shēbheṭ , 145 times, also spelled שׁבט , shebheṭ ; Aramaic שׁבט , shebhaṭ ( Ezra 6:17 )): Both words mean "staff," and perhaps "company led by chief with staff" ( OHL , 641) is the origin of the meaning "tribe." In the Apocrypha and New Testament always for φυλή , phulḗ , from φύω , phúō , "beget," with δωδεκάφυλον , dōdekáphulon , "twelve tribes," in Acts 26:7 . Of the two Hebrew words, shēbhet appears to be considerably the older, and is used in Psalm 74:2; Jeremiah 10:16; Jeremiah 51:19 of the whole people of Israel, and in Numbers 4:18; Judges 20:12 (Revised Version margin); 1 Samuel 9:21 (Revised Version margin) of subdivisions of a tribe (but the text of most of these six verses is suspicious). Further, in Isaiah 19:13 , shēbheṭ is used of the "tribes" (nomes?) of Egypt and phulē in Matthew 24:30 of "all the tribes of the earth," but otherwise shēbheṭ , maṭṭeh and phulē refer exclusively to the tribes of Israel. In 2 Samuel 7:7 for shibheṭē , "tribes," read shōpheṭē , "judges" (of the Revised Version margin).
