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).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) was edited by James Orr, John Nuelsen, Edgar Mullins, Morris Evans, and Melvin Grove Kyle and was published complete in 1939. This web site includes the complete text.
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