StrongerBible

toledah

תּוֹלֵדוֹת

HebrewH8435“generations, account, ...”

Appears 39 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 2:4Gen 5:1Gen 6:9Gen 10:1Gen 10:32Gen 11:10Gen 11:27Gen 25:12Gen 25:13Gen 25:19Gen 36:1Gen 36:9Gen 37:2Exo 6:16Exo 6:19Exo 28:10Num 1:20Num 1:22Num 1:24Num 1:26Num 1:28Num 1:30Num 1:32Num 1:34Num 1:36Num 1:38Num 1:40Num 1:42Num 3:1Rut 4:181Ch 1:291Ch 5:71Ch 7:21Ch 7:41Ch 7:91Ch 8:281Ch 9:91Ch 9:341Ch 26:31
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradetoh-leh-DOTEnoun

What toledah means

the line that comes from a named ancestor: the descendants, family record, or unfolding story that issues from them

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This word is built from the verb meaning "to father" or "to bring forth," and that shapes everything about it. It always points forward, to what a person produced, never backward to where that person came from. So "the toledot of Noah" means the family and story that came out of Noah, not the account of his own birth.

It is the backbone of the book of Genesis, where the same phrase, "these are the toledot of so-and-so," introduces each new section, carrying the story forward from the first humans down to the family of Jacob. Sometimes it heads a plain list of names; sometimes it heads a long narrative about a family line. Either way it announces what comes next, not what came before.

The same word does quieter work elsewhere. In the law and especially in Chronicles it becomes a record-keeper's term, the phrase used when people are counted and enrolled by family. In one place it even means the simple order in which children were born. Underneath all of these is one idea: the offspring and the history that flow out of a starting point.

Nuances

1athe descendants of a named ancestor; the phrase heading a list of who came from them
Gen 5:1Gen 10:1Gen 10:32Gen 11:10Gen 25:12Gen 25:13Gen 36:1Gen 36:9Num 3:1Rut 4:181Ch 1:29
1bthe account or story of what became of a person's line; the phrase heading a narrative rather than a name list
Gen 2:4Gen 6:9Gen 11:27Gen 25:19Gen 37:2
1cenrollment by family line; the term used when people are registered or counted ancestor by ancestor
Exo 6:16Exo 6:19Num 1:20Num 1:22Num 1:24Num 1:26Num 1:28Num 1:30Num 1:32Num 1:34Num 1:36Num 1:38
1dthe order in which children were born; birth sequence
Exo 28:10

What scholars say about toledah

The noun is a feminine plural formed on the t-preformative pattern from the causative stem of ילד (Hiphil הוֹלִיד "to beget"), so HALOT, BDB, Schreiner (TDOT 15:582-88), and Merrill (NIDOTTE #3528) agree the deverbal force is necessarily forward-pointing: what the named subject begets, not its own origins (Wenham, WBC; Hamilton, NICOT). This morphology decides the directional crux and undercuts P. J. Wiseman's colophon theory, now essentially dead in critical Genesis scholarship (Hamilton, Wenham, Mathews, M. Thomas, DeRouchie). Within the forward-pointing consensus, Sarna (JPS) and Sarah Schwartz (JHS 16 [2016]) defend a genuine narrative-versus-list polysemy (descendants versus a record of subsequent events). Tengstrom (Die Toledotformel, 1981) and Scharbert distinguish narrative from enumerative headings. Thomas (These Are the Generations, LHBOTS 551) and DeRouchie (JETS 56/2 [2013]) argue from the asyndetic-versus-waw distinction for a five-section macrostructure of Genesis. Documentary critics from Budde and von Rad assign the framework to P and posit a pre-existing toledot source behind the unique wording of Gen 5:1. The Chronicler develops the Exodus-style prepositional use into a technical scribal term for genealogical enrollment.

Where scholars disagree about toledah

Whether each toledot formula is a heading introducing the section that follows or a closing colophon ending the section before it (P. J. Wiseman's tablet theory).

  • majorityEvery formula is a forward-pointing heading; the deverbal morphology, the list-headed sections, and the uses outside Genesis all require it.; G. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, WBC 1, 56; V. Hamilton, NICOT 1:8-11; J. DeRouchie, JETS 56/2 (2013): 222-24
  • minorityThe formulas are subscriptions closing earlier tablet-sized sources, like Mesopotamian colophons.; P. J. Wiseman, Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis (1936; 1985); R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 1969), 543-53

Whether the word carries one unified sense across all its uses or a genuine polysemy of literal descendants versus a record of subsequent events.

  • contestedA genuine polysemy: descendants where a name list follows, but a figurative record of events where narrative follows.; N. Sarna, Genesis, JPS, 16; S. Schwartz, JHS 16 (2016)
  • contestedOne forward-pointing sense throughout, stretched by context but not split into separate meanings.; V. Hamilton, NICOT 1:8-11

How Genesis 2:4, the only formula not attached to a named person, fits the pattern.

  • majorityA single forward-pointing heading introducing the account of humanity that issues from the created heavens and earth.; U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis I:98; B. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, 149-50; G. Wenham, WBC 1:55-56
  • minorityVerse 2:4a is a Priestly subscription closing the first creation account and 2:4b begins the next, dividing the verse between sources.; G. von Rad, Genesis, OTL (Westminster, 1972), 63; E. Speiser, Genesis, AB 1
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. תּוֹלֵדוֹתlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. תּוֹלֵדוֹת (p. 410)lexicon
  • J. Schreiner, "ילד; תּוֹלֵדוֹת," TDOT 15:582-88theological-dictionary
  • E. Merrill, NIDOTTE #3528 (2:459)theological-dictionary
  • G. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, WBC 1 (Word, 1987), 55-56commentary
  • V. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis 1-17, NICOT (Eerdmans, 1990), 8-11, 150-51commentary
  • K. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, NAC 1A (B&H, 1996), 33-34, 183commentary
  • N. Sarna, Genesis, JPS Torah Commentary (JPS, 1989), 16commentary
  • M. Thomas, These Are the Generations, LHBOTS 551 (T&T Clark, 2011)monograph
  • J. DeRouchie, "The Blessing-Commission, the Promised Seed, and the Toledot Structure of Genesis," JETS 56/2 (2013): 219-47journal
  • S. Schwartz, "Narrative Toledot Formulae in Genesis," JHS 16 (2016)journal
  • S. Tengstrom, Die Toledotformel, CB-OT 17 (1981)monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of תּוֹלֵדוֹת

f p construct

תּוֹלְדֹתָם, תֹּלְדוֹתָם, לְתוֹלְדֹתָם, תֹלְדֹתָם, כְּתוֹלְדֹתָם

Num 1:20, Num 1:22, Num 1:24, Num 1:26, Num 1:28, Num 1:30, Num 1:32, Num 1:34

f p construct

תּוֹלְדֹת, תֹּלְדוֹת, תּוֹלְדוֹת, תֹּלְדֹת

Gen 5:1, Gen 6:9, Gen 10:1, Gen 11:10, Gen 11:27, Gen 25:19, Num 3:1, Gen 36:1

f p construct

תֹלְדֹתָיו

1Ch 26:31