'Twelve' in the Bible

Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer [the most powerful king in the invading confederacy], but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

As for Ishmael, I have heard and listened to you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will greatly multiply him [through his descendants]. He will be the father of twelve princes (chieftains, sheiks), and I will make him a great nation.

These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their settlements, and by their encampments (sheepfolds); twelve princes (sheiks) according to their tribes.

While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.Now Jacob had twelve sons—

But they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers [in all], the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; please listen: the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive.”

We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’

All these are the [beginnings of the] twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each one according to the blessing appropriate to him.

Then the children of Israel came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he got up early in the morning, and built an altar [for worship] at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars (memorial stones) representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the [twelve] sons of Israel,

The [engraved] stones shall be twelve, according to the names of [the twelve tribes of] the sons of Israel; they shall be like the engravings of a signet, each with its name for the twelve tribes.

The stones corresponded to the names of the sons of Israel; they were twelve [in all], corresponding to their names, engraved like a signet, each with its name, for the twelve tribes.

“Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes (bread of the Presence, showbread) with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake (loaf).

These were the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his fathers’ household.

They brought their offering before the Lord, six covered carts and twelve oxen; a cart for each two of the leaders and an ox for each one; and they presented them before the tabernacle.

This was the dedication offering for the altar from the leaders of Israel on the day when it was anointed: twelve dishes of silver, twelve silver basins, twelve golden bowls;

the twelve golden bowls, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the bowls being a hundred and twenty shekels;

all the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve bulls, the rams twelve, the male lambs one year old twelve, together with their grain offering; and the male goats as a sin offering twelve;

“Speak to the sons of Israel and get rods from them, a rod for each father’s household, from all their leaders according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods. Write every man’s name on his rod,

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a rod, one for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

‘Then on the second day [of the Feast of Booths]: twelve bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish,

They moved out from Marah and came to Elim; in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

The plan pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.

So now take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe.

“Take for yourselves the twelve men [chosen] from among the people, one man from each tribe,

and command them, ‘Pick up for yourselves twelve stones [one each] from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm; carry them over with you and lay them down at the place where you will spend the night tonight.’”

Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe;

So the [twelve men chosen from the] sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had spoken to Joshua; and they carried them over with them to the place where they were spending the night and put them down there.

Then Joshua set up [a second monument of] twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.

And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.

And all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai.

and Chephar-ammoni and Ophni and Geba; twelve cities with their villages;

Included were Kattah and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages.

The sons of Merari according to their families received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.

All [these were] the cities of the sons of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites; and their lot was twelve cities.

When he arrived at his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his [dead] concubine, he cut her [corpse] limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her [body parts] throughout all the territory of Israel.

So they stood up and went over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who secured provisions for the king and his household; each man had to provide for a month in the year.

He cast the two pillars of bronze; the one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a [measuring] line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of both.

It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east; the Sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts pointed inward.

one Sea (basin), and the twelve oxen under the Sea;

Twelve lions stood there, one on either end of each of the six steps; there was nothing like it made for any other kingdom.

Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel and reigned for twelve years. He reigned six years at Tirzah.

Then Elijah took twelve stones in accordance with the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”

So Elijah departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his mantle (coat) on him.

Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.

He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense [to pagan gods] in the high places in Judah’s cities and all around Jerusalem—also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations [of the zodiac], and to all the [starry] host of heaven.

To the sons of Merari were given twelve cities by lot, according to their families, from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

The first lot for Asaph fell to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him, his relatives and his sons, twelve;

the third to Zaccur, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the fourth to Izri, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the thirteenth to Shubael, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the fourteenth to Mattithiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the fifteenth to Jeremoth, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the sixteenth to Hananiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the seventeenth of Joshbekashah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the nineteenth to Mallothi, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the twentieth to Eliathah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the twenty-first to Hothir, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the twenty-second to Giddalti, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the twenty-third to Mahazioth, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

the twenty-fourth to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his relatives, twelve.

It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, three facing east; and the Sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inward.

and the one Sea with the twelve oxen under it.

Also, twelve lions were standing there, one on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made for any [other] kingdom.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers (relatives),

Also the [former] exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and 12 male goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my relatives have eaten the governor’s food allowance.

Now when it was each young woman’s turn to go before King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women—for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with [sweet] spices and perfumes and the beauty preparations for women—

‘Return, O faithless children [of the twelve tribes],’ says the Lord,‘For I am a master and husband to you,And I will take you [not as a nation, but individually]—one from a city and two from a [tribal] family—And I will bring you to Zion.’

The two pillars, the one [enormous] Sea (basin), and the twelve bronze bulls under the Sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these things was beyond weighing.

Concerning the pillars, the height of each pillar was eighteen cubits (twenty-seven feet), and a line [an ornamental molding] of twelve cubits (eighteen feet) went around its circumference; it was four fingers thick, and [the pillar was] hollow.

Now the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve wide, square in its four sides.

Thus says the Lord God, “This shall be the boundary by which you shall divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions.

Twelve months later he was walking on the upper level of the royal palace of Babylon.