How to read the Joseph family tree Bible chart
This is Joseph the son of Jacob in Genesis. Joseph the husband of Mary belongs to the family tree of Jesus. Read the chart from the top down, one generation to a row.
A picture is a detail
A detail of an old painting, or a silhouette where none names the person.
A line from Jacob is a marriage
Genesis says each of the four women was given to Jacob to wife.
The colour of a plate is the mother
The sons of each mother share one colour, so half-brothers can be told apart.
Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah
Laban had two daughters, “the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.”1 Jacob served Laban for Rachel, but on the wedding night Laban brought him Leah, and Jacob married Rachel when Leah’s week was fulfilled.1 Each daughter came with a handmaid, Zilpah for Leah and Bilhah for Rachel.1
Leah bore four sons in turn, while Rachel had none. Rachel then gave Jacob Bilhah “to wife,” and Bilhah bore Dan and Naphtali, and Leah gave him Zilpah, who bore Gad and Asher.2 Leah bore two more sons and a daughter, Dinah, before “God remembered Rachel,” and she bore Joseph.2 Rachel died on the way to Bethlehem bearing Benjamin, whom she named Benoni.3 These four women are the mothers in every Joseph family tree Bible readers draw from Genesis.
The twelve sons on the Joseph family tree Bible lists give
Genesis 35 sums up the family by mother, and the chart keeps that order.3 The colour of each plate on the chart follows the mother, so the four groups of half-brothers stand out even where the lines of descent run together.
| Mother | Children in order of birth | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| Leah | Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah | Genesis 29:32-35, 30:17-21 |
| Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid | Dan, Naphtali | Genesis 30:5-8 |
| Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid | Gad, Asher | Genesis 30:9-13 |
| Rachel | Joseph, Benjamin | Genesis 30:22-24, 35:16-18 |
Two of Leah’s sons carry later lines of this site. Levi is the forefather of Moses and Aaron, as the family tree Moses was born into shows, and Judah is the forefather of David by the genealogy at the end of Ruth.89 The generations before Jacob are on the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob family tree.
Joseph in Egypt and his marriage
“Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age.”4 His brothers sold him to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver, and in Egypt he was bought by Potiphar, “an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard.”45
Pharaoh later set Joseph “over all the land of Egypt,” called him Zaphnathpaaneah, and gave him to wife Asenath, “the daughter of Potipherah priest of On.”6 Potipherah is a different man from Potiphar, though the names are close. Before the years of famine Asenath bore two sons. Joseph called the firstborn Manasseh and the second Ephraim.6
Jacob blesses Manasseh and Ephraim
When Jacob was dying he took Joseph’s sons as his own. “Thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh,” he said, “are mine,” as Reuben and Simeon were.7 Joseph set Manasseh at Jacob’s right hand, but Jacob crossed his hands and laid his right hand on Ephraim, “who was the younger.”7 He said that the younger brother “shall be greater than he,” and “set Ephraim before Manasseh.”7
This is why Manasseh and Ephraim count among the sons of Jacob in the Joseph family tree Bible readers follow. The chart draws them under Joseph and Asenath, where Genesis 41 places their birth, and adds a line of adoption, solid beside dotted, from Jacob to each of them.67
Where the text leaves questions open
Genesis calls Bilhah and Zilpah handmaids and also says each was given to Jacob “to wife,” and later calls Bilhah his concubine.23 The chart draws all four as marriages, as the verses of their giving say, and the table names the two handmaids as such.
Genesis tells nothing of Asenath beyond her father, her marriage and her two sons, so her plate carries no more.6 Dinah is the only daughter of Jacob that Genesis names, and the Joseph family tree Bible readers follow therefore shows one daughter only.2
Every person on the Joseph family tree Bible readers meet
Each person in the Joseph family tree Bible chapters 29 to 50 describe has a row with the verses that name the relationship.
| Portrait | Person | In the sources | On the chart |
|---|---|---|---|
 | JacobFather of Joseph | Also called Israel, father of twelve sons and Dinah. | |
| B | BilhahRachel’s handmaid | Mother of Dan and Naphtali. Sources2 | |
| Z | ZilpahLeah’s handmaid | Mother of Gad and Asher. Sources2 | |
 | LeahElder daughter of Laban | Mother of six sons and Dinah. | |
 | RachelMother of Joseph | Died bearing Benjamin. | |
 | DanSon of Bilhah | Fifth son of Jacob. Sources2 | |
 | NaphtaliSon of Bilhah | Sixth son of Jacob. Sources2 | |
 | GadSon of Zilpah | Seventh son of Jacob. Sources2 | |
 | AsherSon of Zilpah | Eighth son of Jacob. Sources2 | |
 | ReubenFirstborn of Jacob | Son of Leah. | |
 | SimeonSon of Leah | Second son of Jacob. Sources1 | |
 | LeviSon of Leah | Forefather of Moses and Aaron. | |
 | JudahSon of Leah | Forefather of David. | |
 | IssacharSon of Leah | Ninth son of Jacob. Sources2 | |
 | ZebulunSon of Leah | Tenth son of Jacob. Sources2 | |
| D | DinahDaughter of Leah | The only daughter of Jacob named in Genesis. Sources2 | |
 | BenjaminYoungest son | Named Benoni by his dying mother. Sources3 | |
 | JosephSon of Jacob and Rachel | Sold into Egypt and set over the land. | |
 | AsenathWife of Joseph | Daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. Sources6 | |
| P | PotipherahFather of Asenath | Priest of On, not Potiphar. | |
 | ManassehFirstborn of Joseph | Taken by Jacob as his own son. | |
 | EphraimSecond son of Joseph | Set before his elder brother by Jacob. |
Questions about the Joseph family tree Bible readers ask
Who the mother on the Joseph family tree is
Rachel, the younger daughter of Laban, who also bore Benjamin.
Whom Joseph married
Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, given to him by Pharaoh.
Why Ephraim was blessed before Manasseh
Jacob crossed his hands and said the younger brother would be greater.
People and sources
A page of its own lists the nine numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the portraits and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.