Gender Masculine
Scripts נַפְתָלִי (Ancient Hebrew)

Means “my struggle, my strife” in Hebrew”, from the verb פתל (patal), to twist or be cunning. In the Old Testament he is a son of Jacob by Rachel’s servant Bilhah, and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob’s seventh son (the second with Bila) father of Iaseel, Juni, Ieser, and Sallum (Gen 30:8; 35:25; 46:24; Ex 1:4; Nu 26:48-49; 1 Chr 2:2; 7:13). His descendants formed the tribe of Naphtali. With Zebulun, he delivered Israel from Jabin king of Canaan (Judg 4:6,10; 5:18). Other references to the tribe or territory of Naphtali: (Gen 49:21; Nu 1:42-43; De 27:13; 33:23; 34:2; Josh 19:32-39; 20:7; 21:6,32; Judg 1:33; 6:35; 7:23; 1Kings 4:15; 15:20; 2Kings 15:29; 1Cr 6:62,76; 12: 35,41; 2Cr 16:4; 34:6; Ps 68:27; Is 8:23; Eze 48:3-4,34; Mt 4:13-15; Rev 7:6); other references to tribal people: (Nu 1:15; 2:29; 7:78; 10:27; 13:14; 34:28; 1Kings 7:14; 1Cr 27:19; Tob 1:1-5; 7:3).

The name Naphtali in the Bible

His descendants formed one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and their land was located in the northern half of Israel, from the Jordan River on their eastern border and only the tribe of Asher between them and the Mediterranean Sea (Joshua 19:33-34). A famous man from Naphtali was Barak, who became a general under Deborah the judge and defeated Sisera’s army (Judges 4:6).

In the Greek New Testament the name Naphtali is mentioned along with the land of Zabulon and in reference to the location of Capernaum, where Jesus lived (Matthew 4:13 and 4:15, spelled Νεφθαλειμ, Nephthaleim), and in the section of Revelation dealing with the promise of 144,000 thousand assured Israelites (Revelation 7:6).