Tribe of Israel
Tribe of Manasseh in the Bible מְנַשֶּׁה
Manasseh is Joseph’s firstborn yet receives the secondary blessing behind Ephraim. The tribe spans both sides of the Jordan, produces Gideon, includes the daughters of Zelophehad’s landmark inheritance case, suffers exile in the east, and remains named in restoration visions.
Start here in Scripture
Key Bible passages for the tribe of Manasseh
These passages provide the quickest route into Manasseh’s identity and trajectory. The fuller reference index below is designed for deeper study.
Origin story
Manasseh is Joseph’s firstborn son in Egypt. Joseph names him from God enabling him to forget or move beyond the toil of his father’s house (Genesis 41:50–51). Jacob later blesses Manasseh but gives the greater precedence to younger Ephraim.
Promise, blessing, and calling
Jacob says Manasseh also will become a people and become great, even while deliberately placing Ephraim ahead of him (Genesis 48:19).
The tribe’s biblical trajectory
Manasseh develops as a large, geographically divided tribe with territory both east and west of the Jordan. The daughters of Zelophehad, from Manasseh, become central to a landmark inheritance ruling. Gideon emerges from Manasseh to deliver Israel from Midian while protesting his clan’s weakness. Eastern Manasseh later shares in the exile of Reuben and Gad.
Famous stories, milestones, and lessons
Genesis 48:13–20
Firstborn without first place
Blessing is not a zero-sum contest; Manasseh is truly blessed even when Ephraim receives precedence.
Numbers 27:1–11; 36:1–12
Daughters of Zelophehad
Faithful appeal can clarify justice and inheritance within covenant order.
Numbers 32:33; Joshua 17:1–13
Two-sided inheritance
A tribe can carry one identity across different geographies.
Judges 6:14–16
Gideon’s call
God’s calling is not cancelled by a family’s low status or a leader’s insecurity.
1 Chronicles 5:23–26
Eastern exile
Idolatry eventually brings the same covenant judgment experienced by neighboring eastern tribes.
Ezekiel 48:4–5; Revelation 7:6
Continuing canonical identity
Manasseh remains named in later restoration and sealing imagery.
Faithfulness, failure, and repentance
Manasseh’s story is less about spectacular tribal rebellion than about faithful identity across divided geography and unequal prominence. Its eastern branch nevertheless shares the idolatry and exile recorded in 1 Chronicles 5.
Ending story and later biblical horizon
Like other northern/eastern tribes, Manasseh becomes hard to trace politically after Assyrian conquest, though people from Manasseh appear in later reform narratives. Ezekiel and Revelation retain Manasseh explicitly, and Revelation’s list names Manasseh beside Joseph.
Deep Bible study
Bible reference index for the tribe of Manasseh
Designed to be exhaustive for tribal identity and trajectory: patriarch/lineage, censuses and camp order, inheritance, major tribal actors, corporate faithfulness/failure, exile/restoration texts, and explicit later tribal references. Excludes unrelated homonyms and routine geographic uses that add nothing to the tribe's story.
Show the book-by-book reference index
- 1 Chronicles
- 5:18–26; 6:61–62,70–71; 7:14–19; 9:3; 12:19,31,37; 27:20–21
- 2 Chronicles
- 15:9; 30:1,10–11,18; 31:1; 34:6,9
- 2 Kings
- 15:29
- 2 Samuel
- 2:9
- Ezra
- 10:30
- Nehemiah
- 10:23
- Numbers
- 1:10,34–35; 2:20–21; 7:54–59; 10:23; 13:11; 26:28–34; 27:1–11; 32:33,39–42; 34:23; 36:1–12
- Revelation
- 7:6
Read in context: a tribal name can identify the patriarch, descendants, territory, a political kingdom, or a later restoration/symbolic setting. The surrounding passage determines which sense is in view.
