SIMEONITES

(Simʹe·on·ites) [Of (Belonging to) Simeon].

The descendants of Jacob’s second son Simeon. After about 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the male population among the Simeonites who were 20 years old and upward and who were qualified for military service numbered only 22,200, constituting the smallest of the 12 tribes. They were divided into five principal families​—the Nemuelites, Jaminites, Jachinites, Zerahites, and Shaulites. (Nu 25:14; 26:1, 2, 12-14; Jos 21:4; 1Ch 27:16) If there were any descendants of a sixth son, Ohad, when this second census was taken, they were probably too few in number to be listed as a separate family of their own.​—Ge 46:10; Ex 6:15.