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1 Chronicles4:11–23

More Descendants of Judah

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1 Chronicles 4:11–23 — More Descendants of Judah. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

11

Chelub the brother of Shuhah was the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḵə·lūḇ ’ă·ḥî- šū·ḥāh hō·w·lîḏ ’eṯ- mə·ḥîr hū ’ă·ḇî ’eš·tō·wn

Word by word9 · parsed
וּכְל֥וּבū·ḵə·lūḇChelubH3620
√ Kᵉlûwb — Kelub, the name of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Kᵉlûwb: Kelub, the name of two Israelites The name occurs in only two verses in the canon: here and 1 Chronicles 27:26, where a Chelub fathers the officer set over the king's field workers. Ellicott and K&D disagree over whether this Chelub is a spelling of Caleb (Chelubai) of 1 Chronicles 2; both concede the question is undecided.
אֲחִֽי־’ă·ḥî-the brotherH251
√ ʼâch — a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like father))Nounmasculine singular construct
ʼâch: a brother, in the widest sense The construct chain binds a man to a kinsman rather than to a father, which is unusual in this list and is exactly why the commentators fasten on it.
שׁוּחָ֖הšū·ḥāhof ShuhahH7746
√ Shûwchâh — Shuchah, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
הוֹלִ֣ידhō·w·lîḏwas the father ofH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
yâlad: to bear young (Hifil) The causative stem, used of a man, means to beget, and it governs the direct object marker that follows. Across this unit the same form recurs at vv. 12 and 14, then yields at v. 18 to the Qal yâlᵉḏâh of a woman bearing. The grammar quietly tracks who is doing the bearing.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
מְחִ֑ירmə·ḥîrMehirH4243
√ Mᵉchîyr — Mechir, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
ה֖וּאhūwhoH1931
√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular
hûwʼ: he (she or it) A resumptive pronoun doing the work of a copula. Hebrew has no verb here at all, so the English "was" is supplied.
אֲבִ֥י’ă·ḇîwas the fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
ʼâb: father, literal or remote In this chapter ʼăḇî is almost never biological. Poole, Gill and Geneva all read it at v. 14 as lord or prince of a place, and Ellicott points to Genesis 4:20 to 21, where the founder of a craft is called its father. Read that way, half this genealogy is a map of settlements.
אֶשְׁתּֽוֹן׃’eš·tō·wnof EshtonH850
√ ʼEshtôwn — Eshton, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
12

Eshton was the father of Beth-rapha, of Paseah, and of Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These were the men of Recah.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’eš·tō·wn hō·w·lîḏ ’eṯ- bêṯ rā·p̄ā wə·’eṯ- pā·sê·aḥ wə·’eṯ- tə·ḥin·nāh ’ă·ḇî ‘îr nā·ḥāš ’êl·leh ’an·šê rê·ḵāh

Word by word15 · parsed
וְאֶשְׁתּ֗וֹןwə·’eš·tō·wnEshtonH850
√ ʼEshtôwn — Eshton, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הוֹלִ֞ידhō·w·lîḏwas the father ofH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
yâlad: to bear young (Hifil) The same causative as v. 11, now generating a house and two men and a city founder in one breath. Nothing in the Hebrew signals the change of register from person to clan to town; only the names do.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
בֵּ֤יתbêṯvvvH1051
√ Bêyth Râphâʼ — Beth-Rapha, an IsraelitePreposition
bayith: a house, in the greatest variation of applications The interlinear parses this bêṯ as a preposition inside a compound name, but the noun behind it is the ordinary word for house and family. Ellicott notes that the form of Beth-rapha and Ir-nahash shows at once that these are towns.
רָפָא֙rā·p̄āBeth-raphaH1051
√ Bêyth Râphâʼ — Beth-Rapha, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
פָּסֵ֔חַpā·sê·aḥof PaseahH6454
√ Pâçêach — Paseach, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
תְּחִנָּ֖הtə·ḥin·nāhand of TehinnahH8468
√ Tᵉchinnâh — Techinnah, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִ֣י’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
עִ֣יר‘îrvvvH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine singular construct
ʻîyr: a city, a place guarded by a watch A construct: city-of-Nahash. The noun is parsed feminine singular construct, which is why it cannot stand alone as a name.
נָחָ֑שׁnā·ḥāšof Ir-nahashH5904
√ ʻÎyr Nâchâsh — Ir-Nachash, a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
אֵ֖לֶּה’êl·lehTheseH428
√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural
אַנְשֵׁ֥י’an·šêwere the menH582
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine plural construct
ʼĕnôwsh: a man in general, singly or collectively Not gibbôr, not ʼîsh of standing: the weak, generic word for humankind. The closing label over this dark fragment is simply "people."
רֵכָֽה׃סrê·ḵāhof RecahH7397
√ Rêkâh — Rekah, a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
Rêkâh: Rekah, a place in Palestine A name found nowhere else in Scripture. The Vatican LXX reads Rechab, which is why Ellicott hears the Rechabites of 1 Chronicles 2:55 behind it; the Targum, says Cambridge, read rabbah and made it the Great Synagogue. Three readings, no way to decide between them from the consonants alone.
13

The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê qə·naz ‘ā·ṯə·nî·’êl ū·śə·rā·yāh ū·ḇə·nê ‘ā·ṯə·nî·’êl ḥă·ṯaṯ

Word by word7 · parsed
וּבְנֵ֣יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son, as a builder of the family name The root sense, a son as one who builds up the house, is the engine of the whole chapter. Where a man has no deeds recorded, the building of a name is the only thing said about him.
קְנַ֔זqə·nazof KenazH7073
√ Qᵉnaz — Kenaz, the name of an Edomite and of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Qᵉnaz: Kenaz, the name of an Edomite and of two Israelites The lexicon itself records the double life of this name: Edomite chief in 1 Chronicles 1:53 and Judahite ancestor here. Ellicott reads the verse as the Kenizzite element absorbed into Judah; K&D derives Kenaz from Hezron instead and notes that Caleb is called qᵉnizzî at Numbers 32:12 and Joshua 14:6. The two explanations pull in opposite directions and the text settles neither.
עָתְנִיאֵ֖ל‘ā·ṯə·nî·’êlOthnielH6274
√ ʻOthnîyʼêl — Othniel, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
ʻOthnîyʼêl: Othniel, an Israelite A rare name, occurring in only six verses in the canon. Every other one stands in Joshua 15:17, Judges 1:13 and Judges 3:9 to 11, where he takes Debir, wins Achsah and becomes the first judge who delivers Israel. Chronicles files the deliverer as a line in a list, which is the Chronicler's whole method: the rescue is assumed, the lineage is the point.
וּשְׂרָיָ֑הū·śə·rā·yāhand SeraiahH8304
√ Sᵉrâyâh — Serajah, the name of nine IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וּבְנֵ֥יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
עָתְנִיאֵ֖ל‘ā·ṯə·nî·’êlof OthnielH6274
√ ʻOthnîyʼêl — Othniel, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
חֲתַֽת׃ḥă·ṯaṯHathath and MeonothaiH2867
√ Chăthath — Chathath, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Chăthath: Chathath, an Israelite Ellicott reads the name as meaning dread, comparing Job 6:21, and adds that the sons of the lion of God would be a terror to their foes. That is his etymology, not the Chronicler's claim.
14

Meonothai was the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of those living in Ge-harashim, which was given this name because its people were craftsmen.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·mə·‘ō·w·nō·ṯay hō·w·lîḏ ’eṯ- ‘ā·p̄ə·rāh ū·śə·rā·yāh hō·w·lîḏ ’eṯ- yō·w·’āḇ ’ă·ḇî gê ḥă·rā·šîm kî hā·yū ḥă·rā·šîm

Word by word14 · parsed
וּמְעוֹנֹתַ֖יū·mə·‘ō·w·nō·ṯayMeonothaiH4587
√ Mᵉʻôwnôthay — Meonothai, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הוֹלִ֣ידhō·w·lîḏwas the father ofH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
עָפְרָ֑ה‘ā·p̄ə·rāhOphrahH6084
√ ʻOphrâh — Ophrah, the name of an Israelite and of two places in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
וּשְׂרָיָ֗הū·śə·rā·yāhand SeraiahH8304
√ Sᵉrâyâh — Serajah, the name of nine IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הוֹלִ֤ידhō·w·lîḏwas the father ofH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
יוֹאָב֙yō·w·’āḇJoabH3097
√ Yôwʼâb — Joab, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִי֙’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
ʼâb: father, literal or figurative The pivot of the verse and of the chapter's method. Here the same word that made Meonothai a parent makes Joab a civic head. Nothing in the form marks the shift; only the noun that follows does.
גֵּ֣יאgêof those living inH1516
√ gayʼ — a gorge (from its lofty sidesNounproperfeminine singular
gayʼ: a gorge, from its lofty sides A steep valley, not a plain. Cambridge places it near Lydda on the strength of Nehemiah 11:35; Pulpit puts it east of Jaffa behind the plain of Sharon and passes on Jerome's tradition that the temple architects came from there. Both are inference from one other verse.
חֲרָשִׁ֔יםḥă·rā·šîmGe-harashimH2798
√ Chărâshîym — mechanics, the name of a valley in JerusalemNounpropermasculine singular
Chărâshîym: mechanics, the name of a valley One of the rarest lexemes in the canon, standing in only two verses: this one and Nehemiah 11:35. When the exiles come home, Benjaminites are living in this same valley of craftsmen. The trade outlasted the kingdom that employed it.
כִּ֥יkî[which was given this name] becauseH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
kîy: a relative conjunction or adverb, very widely used Here causal, carrying the etymology.
הָיֽוּ׃פhā·yū[its people] wereH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
חֲרָשִׁ֖יםḥă·rā·šîmcraftsmenH2796
√ chârâsh — a fabricator or any materialNounmasculine plural
chârâsh: a fabricator of any material The plural common noun. JFB reads the arrangement as a guild quarter: persons of the same trade inhabiting the same street and following the same occupation from father to son, through many generations. That observation, and not any theology, is what makes vv. 14, 21 and 23 one subject.
15

The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê kā·lêḇ ben- yə·p̄un·neh ‘î·rū ’ê·lāh wā·nā·‘am ū·ḇə·nê ’ê·lāh ū·qə·naz

Word by word10 · parsed
וּבְנֵי֙ū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
כָּלֵ֣בkā·lêḇof CalebH3612
√ Kâlêb — Caleb, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Kâlêb: Caleb, the name of three Israelites A moderately common name, in thirty five verses. Ellicott's point is the weight the Chronicler leaves unsaid: Caleb the Kenizzite obtained a portion among the children of Judah because he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel (Joshua 14:14). Here that whole story is compressed into a patronymic.
בֶּן־ben-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
bên: a son, in the widest sense Construct, binding Caleb to Jephunneh. The formula is identity papers, not biography.
יְפֻנֶּ֔הyə·p̄un·nehof JephunnehH3312
√ Yᵉphunneh — Jephunneh, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
עִ֥ירוּ‘î·rūIruH5900
√ ʻÎyrûw — Iru, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
אֵלָ֖ה’ê·lāhElahH425
√ ʼÊlâh — Elah, the name of an Edomite, of four Israelites, and also of a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
ʼÊlâh: Elah, the name of an Edomite, of four Israelites, and of a place Ellicott notes Elah occurs at 1 Chronicles 1:52 as an Edomite princedom, as Kenaz does at 1:53, and wonders whether these Calebite houses are Edomite in origin. K&D calls that connection arbitrary. We record both and decide neither.
וָנָ֑עַםwā·nā·‘amand NaamH5277
√ Naʻam — Naam, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וּבְנֵ֥יū·ḇə·nêThe sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
אֵלָ֖ה’ê·lāhof ElahH425
√ ʼÊlâh — Elah, the name of an Edomite, of four Israelites, and also of a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
וּקְנַֽז׃ū·qə·nazKenazH7073
√ Qᵉnaz — Kenaz, the name of an Edomite and of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Qᵉnaz: Kenaz The name closes the block it opened at v. 13, which is why Ellicott suggests repointing ʼêlâh as ʼêlleh, "these," and reading the clause as a subscription: these are the sons of Kenaz. A vowel, not a consonant, is all that separates a genealogy from a colophon.
16

The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê yə·hal·lel·’êl zîp̄ wə·zî·p̄āh tî·rə·yā wa·’ă·śar·’êl

Word by word6 · parsed
וּבְנֵ֖יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
יְהַלֶּלְאֵ֑לyə·hal·lel·’êlof JehallelelH3094
√ Yᵉhallelʼêl — Jehallelel, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhallelʼêl: Jehallelel, the name of two Israelites A rare lexeme, in only two verses: here and 2 Chronicles 29:12, where a Merarite Levite of the same name has a son among those who cleanse the temple under Hezekiah. Nothing links the two men beyond the name, and Pulpit notes the spelling is identical in Hebrew.
זִ֣יףzîp̄ZiphH2128
√ Zîyph — Ziph, the name of a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
Zîyph: Ziph, a place in Palestine The wilderness of Ziph is where David hides and is betrayed (1 Samuel 23). The Chronicler records only the name.
וְזִיפָ֔הwə·zî·p̄āhZiphahH2129
√ Zîyphâh — Ziphah, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
תִּירְיָ֖אtî·rə·yāTiriaH8493
√ Tîyrᵉyâʼ — fearful, Tirja, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
וַאֲשַׂרְאֵֽל׃wa·’ă·śar·’êland AsarelH840
√ ʼĂsarʼêl — Asarel, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
ʼĂsarʼêl: Asarel, an Israelite One of four names in this verse and the second ending in ʼêl. Whatever else these families were, they carried God's name in their own.
17

The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. And Mered’s wife Bithiah gave birth to Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇen- ‘ez·rāh ye·ṯer ū·me·reḏ wə·‘ê·p̄er wə·yā·lō·wn wat·ta·har ’eṯ- mir·yām wə·’eṯ- šam·may wə·’eṯ- yiš·bāḥ ’ă·ḇî ’eš·tə·mō·a‘

Word by word15 · parsed
וּבֶן־ū·ḇen-The sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
bên: a son A singular construct heading a plural list. Small as it is, this is the first crack in a passage the commentators agree is damaged.
עֶזְרָ֔ה‘ez·rāhof EzrahH5834
√ ʻEzrâh — Ezrah, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
יֶ֥תֶרye·ṯerJetherH3500
√ Yether — Jether, the name of five or six Israelites and of one MidianiteNounpropermasculine singular
וּמֶ֖רֶדū·me·reḏMeredH4778
√ Mered — Mered, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְעֵ֣פֶרwə·‘ê·p̄erEpherH6081
√ ʻÊpher — Epher, the name of an Arabian and of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְיָל֑וֹןwə·yā·lō·wnand JalonH3210
√ Yâlôwn — Jalon, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וַתַּ֙הַר֙wat·ta·harAnd [Mered’s wife Bithiah] gave birthH2029
√ hârâh — to be (or become) pregnant, conceive (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular
hârâh: to be or become pregnant, conceive The verse's one real verb of action, and it has lost its subject. Ellicott: the statement "includes none but male appellations." Barnes concludes it is impossible to restore the original text with any certainty. The Berean interlinear's bracketed supply is an editorial repair, honestly marked as such in BSB.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
מִרְיָ֣םmir·yāmto MiriamH4813
√ Miryâm — Mirjam, the name of two IsraelitessesNounproperfeminine singular
Miryâm: Mirjam, the name of two Israelitesses The lexicon itself expects a woman; the syntax here wants a man. That collision, not any tradition, is why Jewish commentators and the Targum reached for Moses and his sister at this point, a reading Gill and K&D both refuse.
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
שַׁמַּ֔יšam·mayShammaiH8060
√ Shammay — Shammai, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
יִשְׁבָּ֖חyiš·bāḥand IshbahH3431
√ Yishbach — Jishbach, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִ֥י’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
ʼâb: father Again a civic title: Ishbah is lord of the town Eshtemoa, in the hill country south of Hebron, which K&D identifies with the ruins at Semua.
אֶשְׁתְּמֹֽעַ׃’eš·tə·mō·a‘of EshtemoaH851
√ ʼEshtᵉmôaʻ — Eshtemoa or Eshtemoh, a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
18

These were the children of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah. Mered also took a Judean wife, who gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’êl·leh bə·nê par·‘ōh ḇaṯ- biṯ·yāh mā·reḏ lā·qaḥ ’ă·šer hay·hu·ḏî·yāh wə·’iš·tōw yā·lə·ḏāh ’eṯ- ye·reḏ ’ă·ḇî ḡə·ḏō·wr wə·’eṯ- ḥe·ḇer ’ă·ḇî śō·w·ḵōw wə·’eṯ- yə·qū·ṯî·’êl ’ă·ḇî zā·nō·w·aḥ

Word by word23 · parsed
וְאֵ֗לֶּהwə·’êl·lehTheseH428
√ ʼêl-leh — these or thoseConjunctive wawPronouncommon plural
בְּנֵי֙bə·nêwere the childrenH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
פַּרְעֹ֔הpar·‘ōhof Pharaoh’sH6547
√ Parʻôh — Paroh, a general title of Egyptian kingsNounpropermasculine singular
בַת־ḇaṯ-daughterH1323
√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular construct
בִּתְיָ֣הbiṯ·yāhBithiahH1332
√ Bithyâh — Bithjah, an Egyptian womanNounproperfeminine singular
Bithyâh: Bithjah, an Egyptian woman The one name in the unit that carries the divine name and belongs to a foreigner. Ellicott allows that if the nomenclature is tribal it may only mean an Egyptian clan that amalgamated with Mered's; Benson doubts a real king's daughter is meant at all; JFB and Barnes take the marriage and the conversion at face value. The text states the marriage and the name and no more.
מָֽרֶד׃סmā·reḏMered alsoH4778
√ Mered — Mered, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
לָקַ֖חlā·qaḥtookH3947
√ lâqach — to take (in the widest variety of applications)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
lâqach: to take, in the widest variety of applications Perfect, third masculine singular. The clause hangs loose in the Hebrew word order, which is why every commentator here is rearranging clauses.
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
הַיְהֻדִיָּ֗הhay·hu·ḏî·yāha JudeanH3057
√ Yᵉhudîyâh — Jehudijah, a JewessArticleNounproperfeminine singular
Yᵉhudîyâh: a Jewess Strong's itself glosses the form as a gentilic. The verse sets her against Pharaoh's daughter, one house through each wife, and hands us Judah's towns through the Judahite and an unlisted set of sons through the Egyptian.
וְאִשְׁתּ֣וֹwə·’iš·tōwwifeH802
√ ʼishshâh — a womanConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
ʼishshâh: a woman Construct with a third masculine singular suffix: his wife. Whose wife is the question the passage refuses to answer plainly. Poole offers Ezra's or Mered's; Cambridge, Ellicott and K&D settle on Mered by transposing the clauses.
יָלְדָ֞הyā·lə·ḏāhwho gave birth toH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular
yâlad: to bear young (Qal) The plain stem for a mother bearing. Three sons follow, and each is called father of a town in Judah: Gedor in the highlands, Soco in the Shephelah, Zanoah, which K&D says may be either. A marriage is turned into a map.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
יֶ֨רֶדye·reḏJeredH3382
√ Yered — Jered, the name of an antediluvian, and of an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִ֤י’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
גְדוֹר֙ḡə·ḏō·wrof GedorH1446
√ Gᵉdôr — Gedor, a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
חֶ֙בֶר֙ḥe·ḇerHeberH2268
√ Cheber — Cheber, the name of a Kenite and of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִ֣י’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
שׂוֹכ֔וֹśō·w·ḵōwof SocoH7755
√ Sôwkôh — Sokoh or Soko, the name of two places in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
יְקֽוּתִיאֵ֖לyə·qū·ṯî·’êland JekuthielH3354
√ Yᵉqûwthîyʼêl — Jekuthiel, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִ֣י’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
זָנ֑וֹחַzā·nō·w·aḥof ZanoahH2182
√ Zânôwach — Zanoach, the name of two places in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
19

The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and of Eshtemoa the Maacathite.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê hō·w·ḏî·yāh ’ê·šeṯ ’ă·ḥō·wṯ na·ḥam ’ă·ḇî qə·‘î·lāh hag·gar·mî wə·’eš·tə·mō·a‘ ham·ma·‘ă·ḵā·ṯî

Word by word10 · parsed
וּבְנֵי֙ū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
הֽוֹדִיָּ֔הhō·w·ḏî·yāhof Hodiah’sH1941
√ Hôwdîyâh — Hodijah, the name of three IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֵ֣שֶׁת’ê·šeṯwifeH802
√ ʼishshâh — a womanNounfeminine singular construct
ʼishshâh: a woman In the construct, the word makes her a man's wife and nothing else: the clan is reckoned through a woman whose own name the text never gives, while her brother is named.
אֲח֣וֹת’ă·ḥō·wṯthe sisterH269
√ ʼâchôwth — a sister (used very widely (like brother), literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular construct
ʼâchôwth: a sister, used very widely, literally and figuratively The lexicon's breadth matters here: the term can carry an alliance as easily as a birth. In a list built of fathers and sons, a sister is the hinge on which two towns hang.
נַ֔חַםna·ḥamof NahamH5163
√ Nacham — Nacham, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִ֥י’ă·ḇî[were] the fathersH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
ʼâb: father Again civic. Keilah and Eshtemoa are towns, so the "father" is a founder or lord, which is why the singular can head a plural subject without scandal.
קְעִילָ֖הqə·‘î·lāhof KeilahH7084
√ Qᵉʻîylâh — Keilah, a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
הַגַּרְמִ֑יhag·gar·mîthe GarmiteH1636
√ Garmîy — bony, iArticleNounpropermasculine singular
Garmîy: bony Strong's gives the sense as bony. Pulpit, citing Gesenius, says the same and adds that nothing else is known explanatory of the word. A clan label whose meaning survives and whose people do not.
וְאֶשְׁתְּמֹ֖עַwə·’eš·tə·mō·a‘and of EshtemoaH851
√ ʼEshtᵉmôaʻ — Eshtemoa or Eshtemoh, a place in PalestineConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הַמַּעֲכָתִֽי׃ham·ma·‘ă·ḵā·ṯîthe MaacathiteH4602
√ Maʻăkâthîy — a Maakathite, or inhabitant of MaakahArticleNounpropermasculine singular
Maʻăkâthîy: a Maakathite, an inhabitant of Maakah Maacah lies at the foot of Hermon on the Syrian border (Pulpit), yet Cambridge and Ellicott both think the epithet here points instead to Maacah the concubine of Caleb at 1 Chronicles 2:48. Either way a non-Judahite name is holding a Judahite town, which is this chapter's steady pattern.
20

The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. The descendants of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê šî·mō·wn ’am·nō·wn wə·rin·nāh ben- ḥā·nān wə·ṯō·lōn ū·ḇə·nê yiš·‘î zō·w·ḥêṯ ū·ḇen- zō·w·ḥêṯ

Word by word12 · parsed
וּבְנֵ֣יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
שִׁימ֔וֹןšî·mō·wnof ShimonH7889
√ Shîymôwn — Shimon, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
אַמְנ֣וֹן’am·nō·wnAmnonH550
√ ʼAmnôwn — Amnon (or Aminon), a son of DavidNounpropermasculine singular
וְרִנָּ֔הwə·rin·nāhRinnahH7441
√ Rinnâh — Rinnah, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
בֶּן־ben-vvvH1135
√ Ben-Chânân — Ben-Chanan, an IsraelitePreposition
Ben-Chânân: Ben-Chanan, an Israelite The lexicon treats the compound as one entry, which supports K&D against the LXX and Vulgate. The name means son of the gracious one, or son of Hanan.
חָנָ֖ןḥā·nānBen-hananH1135
√ Ben-Chânân — Ben-Chanan, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
וְתוֹלוֹןwə·ṯō·lōnand TilonH8436
√ Tûwlôwn — Tulon, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Tûwlôwn: Tulon, an Israelite Found only here in Scripture, in either spelling.
וּבְנֵ֣יū·ḇə·nêThe descendantsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
יִשְׁעִ֔יyiš·‘îof IshiH3469
√ Yishʻîy — Jishi, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
זוֹחֵ֖תzō·w·ḥêṯZohethH2105
√ Zôwchêth — Zocheth, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
וּבֶן־ū·ḇen-vvvH1132
√ Ben-Zôwchêth — Ben-Zocheth, an Israelite
Ben-Zôwchêth: Ben-Zocheth, an Israelite Strong's grants it its own entry as a name, which is the decision BSB follows. K&D reads the same letters as a broken construct with the descendants missing. The brief's own interlinear leaves this word unparsed, which is an honest signal that the grammar here is unsettled.
זוֹחֵֽת׃zō·w·ḥêṯand Ben-zohethH1132
√ Ben-Zôwchêth — Ben-Zocheth, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Zôwchêth: Zocheth, an Israelite Gill's whole comment is that of these men "we know no more than their names." That is the plain state of the evidence.
21

The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê šê·lāh ḇen- yə·hū·ḏāh ‘êr ’ă·ḇî lê·ḵāh wə·la‘·dāh ’ă·ḇî mā·rê·šāh ū·miš·pə·ḥō·wṯ hab·buṣ lə·ḇêṯ ‘ă·ḇō·ḏaṯ bêṯ- ’aš·bê·a‘

Word by word16 · parsed
בְּנֵי֙bə·nêThe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
bên: a son, as a builder of the family name Without the waw, this is a fresh heading, not a continuation. Ellicott marks the same break by numbering his own section here: sons of Shelah, third son of Judah, vv. 21 to 23.
שֵׁלָ֣הšê·lāhof ShelahH7956
√ Shêlâh — Shelah, the name of a postdiluvian patriarch and of an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
Shêlâh: Shelah, a postdiluvian patriarch and an Israelite Judah's third son, born at Chezib (Genesis 38:5), withheld from Tamar, and thereby the survivor of a family two of whose sons God struck down. His line is given here and nowhere else in Chronicles, and K&D notes its information is obscure "but not unimportant."
בֶן־ḇen-sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
יְהוּדָ֔הyə·hū·ḏāhof JudahH3063
√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
עֵ֚ר‘êrErH6147
√ ʻÊr — Er, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
ʻÊr: Er, the name of two Israelites The name of Judah's firstborn, who was wicked in the sight of the LORD and died (Genesis 38:7; 46:12). Shelah gives it to his own son. Pulpit reads this as deliberate remembrance of the slain brother.
אֲבִ֣י’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
לֵכָ֔הlê·ḵāhof LecahH3922
√ lêkâh — Lekah, a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
וְלַעְדָּ֖הwə·la‘·dāhLaadahH3935
√ Laʻdâh — Ladah, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִ֣י’ă·ḇîthe fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular construct
מָרֵשָׁ֑הmā·rê·šāhof MareshahH4762
√ Marʼêshâh — Mareshah, the name of two Israelites and of a place in PalestineNounpropermasculine singular
וּמִשְׁפְּח֛וֹתū·miš·pə·ḥō·wṯand the clansH4940
√ mishpâchâh — a family, iConjunctive wawNounfeminine plural construct
הַבֻּ֖ץhab·buṣof the linenH948
√ bûwts — probably cotton (of some sort)ArticleNounmasculine singular
bûwts: probably cotton (of some sort) The fabric of kings and priests. Pulpit lists the uses: the clothing of kings (1 Chronicles 15:27), of priests (2 Chronicles 5:12), and of the very wealthy (Esther 1:6; 8:15). Benson says these families were famous for weaving the very stuff their kings and priests were clothed in, so that the tabernacle's fabric and this obscure guild belong to one story.
לְבֵ֥יתlə·ḇêṯ. . .H1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
עֲבֹדַ֥ת‘ă·ḇō·ḏaṯworkersH5656
√ ʻăbôdâh — work of any kindNounfeminine singular construct
ʻăbôdâh: work of any kind The same noun Scripture uses for the service of the sanctuary and for bond labour alike. Here it is the guild's craft, and the verse hands us the word without deciding whether it is honour or drudgery.
בֵּית־bêṯ-at Beth-ashbeaH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
אַשְׁבֵּֽעַ׃’aš·bê·a‘. . .H791
√ ʼAshbêaʻ — Asbea, an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular
ʼAshbêaʻ: Asbea, an Israelite A name found only in this verse.
22

Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi-lehem. (These names are from ancient records.)

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·yō·w·qîm wə·’an·šê ḵō·zê·ḇā wə·yō·w·’āš wə·śā·rāp̄ ’ă·šer- bā·‘ă·lū lə·mō·w·’āḇ wə·yā·šu·ḇî lā·ḥem ‘at·tî·qîm wə·had·də·ḇā·rîm

Word by word12 · parsed
וְיוֹקִ֞יםwə·yō·w·qîmJokimH3137
√ Yôwqîym — Jokim, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְאַנְשֵׁ֣יwə·’an·šêthe menH582
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
כֹזֵבָ֗אḵō·zê·ḇāof CozebaH3578
√ Kôzᵉbâʼ — Cozeba, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
Kôzᵉbâʼ: Cozeba, a place in Palestine Pulpit gives the meaning of the name as lying, and both he and Kimchi (through K&D) identify it with the Chezib of Genesis 38:5, the town where Shelah himself was born. If that is right, this line of the list has circled back to its own birthplace.
וְיוֹאָ֧שׁwə·yō·w·’āšand JoashH3101
√ Yôwʼâsh — Joash, the name of six IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְשָׂרָ֛ףwə·śā·rāp̄and SaraphH8315
√ Sârâph — Saraph, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whoH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
בָּעֲל֥וּbā·‘ă·lūruledH1166
√ bâʻal — to be masterVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
bâʻal: to be master The verb behind Baal, the word for a husband's mastery and a lord's alike. It is the only verb of power in the whole unit, and it is spent on two men nobody can identify. Cambridge: "We find no other trace of these two as rulers of Moab."
לְמוֹאָ֖בlə·mō·w·’āḇin MoabH4124
√ Môwʼâb — Moab, an incestuous son of LotPreposition-lNounproperfeminine singular
וְיָשֻׁ֣בִיwə·yā·šu·ḇîvvvH3433
√ Yâshubîy Lechem — Jashubi-Lechem, an Israelite
לָ֑חֶםlā·ḥemand Jashubi-lehemH3433
√ Yâshubîy Lechem — Jashubi-Lechem, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular
עַתִּיקִֽים׃‘at·tî·qîmThese names are from ancientH6267
√ ʻattîyq — removed, iAdjectivemasculine plural
ʻattîyq: removed, ancient A lexeme found in only two verses of the canon. Its root sense is removed, and that is worth hearing under the surface translation: these records are not merely old, they have been carried away from their own time into this one.
וְהַדְּבָרִ֖יםwə·had·də·ḇā·rîmrecordsH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordConjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine plural
dâbâr: a word The plural with the article: the words, the matters, the records. The Chronicler steps out of his list for four Hebrew words to tell the reader that his sources are old. It is the nearest thing to a first-person sentence in the unit.
23

These were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the service of the king.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hêm·māh hay·yō·wṣ·rîm wə·yō·šə·ḇê nə·ṭā·‘îm ū·ḡə·ḏê·rāh ‘im- yā·šə·ḇū šām bim·laḵ·tōw ham·me·leḵ

Word by word10 · parsed
הֵ֚מָּהhêm·māhThese [were]H1992
√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural
הַיּ֣וֹצְרִ֔יםhay·yō·wṣ·rîmthe pottersH3335
√ yâtsar — to mould into a formArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
yâtsar: to mould into a form A participle of settled, continuing action: the ones who keep shaping. The root belongs to the potter at Jeremiah 18 and to the God who forms Israel at Isaiah 64:8, but the Chronicler uses it here as a job description and nothing more. The figure in it is real; the claim that this verse intends the figure is not, and Maclaren says as much himself.
וְיֹשְׁבֵ֥יwə·yō·šə·ḇêwho livedH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct
yâshab: properly, to sit down, to dwell The chapter's last theme, dwelling, appears twice in this verse: once as a participle of those who inhabit, once as a finite verb, they dwelt there. A list of who was born ends as a record of who stayed.
נְטָעִ֖יםnə·ṭā·‘îmat NetaimH5196
√ Nᵉṭâʻîym — Netaim, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
Nᵉṭâʻîym: Netaim, a place in Palestine The name means plantings. Ellicott points to Isaiah 17:10 for the common noun and to Solomon's pleasure gardens near Bethlehem and Uzziah's farms (2 Chronicles 26:10) for the kind of royal estate meant.
וּגְדֵרָ֑הū·ḡə·ḏê·rāhand GederahH1449
√ Gᵉdêrâh — (with the article) Gederah, a place in PalestineConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
עִם־‘im-. . .H5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
יָ֥שְׁבוּyā·šə·ḇūThey livedH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
שָֽׁם׃סšāmthereH8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
בִּמְלַאכְתּ֖וֹbim·laḵ·tōwin the serviceH4399
√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iPreposition-bNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
mᵉlâʼkâh: properly, deputyship, business, work Strong's root sense is deputyship: work done on someone else's behalf. That is exactly the situation of this verse. The same noun appears at 1 Chronicles 27:26 among David's estate officers, which is why Barnes and K&D place these potters on crown land rather than in exile.
הַמֶּ֥לֶךְham·me·leḵof the kingH4428
√ melek — a kingArticleNounmasculine singular
melek: a king With the article, and unnamed. K&D refuses to pick one: not an individual king of Judah, since David as well as Uzziah held estates worked by appointed officers. The unit's final noun is an office, not a man.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Names in the dark — 4:11 to 4:12

The unit opens on a fragment nobody can place. Pulpit states it flatly: of this whole group of names "it must be said that we are in the dark," and K&D agrees that as to the connection of the men of Rechah "with the larger families of Judah, nothing has been handed down to us." Barnes goes further and conjectures from the strangeness of every name here that we have a fragment of Canaanite record attached to Judah through the Shua of Genesis 38:2; Pulpit passes on Grove's version of the same guess. Ellicott, reading רֵכָֽה with the Vatican LXX as Rechab, hears the Rechabites of 1 Chronicles 2:55 instead, while Cambridge records that the Targum read rabbah and made these the men of the Great Synagogue. Four readings of one unrepeated word. Underneath the guesswork the Hebrew is doing something plain: הוֹלִ֣יד (hōlîḏ, H3205, Hifil), he caused to bring forth, beats three times in two verses, and what it brings forth is not only men but a house (bêṯ rāp̄ā) and a city (‘îr nāḥāš). The closing label, אַנְשֵׁ֥י from ʼĕnôwsh, the weak generic word for humankind, calls them simply people. That is the whole obituary.

ii. The Kenizzite graft: outsiders written into Judah — 4:13 to 4:16

With Kenaz the list touches known ground and immediately becomes an argument. Ellicott reads vv. 13 to 15 as "the Kenizzite element in Judah," noting that Kenaz names an Edomite clan at 1 Chronicles 1:53, and that Kenizzites who cast in their lot with the Calebites were naturally called younger brothers of their new kindred. K&D refuses that route and derives Kenaz from Hezron, since Caleb himself is called qᵉnizzî at Numbers 32:12 and Joshua 14:6. JFB simply makes Kenaz the grandfather of Caleb. Pulpit, weighing the same passages, concludes that Othniel was Caleb's younger brother and Kenaz a forefather, and then says the quiet part out loud: "The conclusion is not arrived at without difficulty, or with any real certainty." The Chronicler meanwhile spends one word, עָתְנִיאֵ֖ל (H6274, a lexeme in only six verses of the canon), on the man who at Judges 3:9 is the first judge God raises to deliver Israel. No deliverance is mentioned. The grammar carries the theology: K&D's observation that bᵉnê here means not sons but "more distant descendants" is exactly how an outsider clan becomes a son of Judah. And at the head of v. 16 stands a man named יְהַלֶּלְאֵ֑ל, which Ellicott renders "he praiseth God," of whom Pulpit can say only that nothing can be said "beyond what appears here."

iii. Two wives, a broken text, and Pharaoh's daughter — 4:17 to 4:20

Here the manuscript itself fails, and the honest thing is to say so with the commentators. K&D lists the damage: the verb וַתַּ֙הַר֙ (wattahar, and she conceived) has no feminine subject, and v. 18 names two women while supplying sons for only one. Barnes: "it seems impossible to restore the original text with any certainty." Pulpit: "From the tangle of these verses it is hopeless to attempt any certain conclusions." Ellicott, Cambridge and K&D all adopt Bertheau's transposition, moving the Bithiah clause up after Jalon, and Ellicott admits outright that the sentence "is meaningless in its present position." The LXX makes Jether the mother; the Syriac and Arabic skip both verses. What survives the wreck is a contrast the Hebrew builds with the definite article: הַיְהֻדִיָּ֗ה, the Judahite woman, set against בִּתְיָ֣ה bath-Yah, daughter of the LORD, who is Pharaoh's daughter. Ellicott calls the name that of "a convert to the religion of Israel"; JFB says the Egyptian party must have renounced idolatry first; Barnes suggests she elected to forsake her countrymen and cleave to a Jewish husband. Benson dissents and doubts any royal marriage at all. The text asserts none of their motives. It asserts a foreign woman inside Judah's house with God's name on her.

iv. Shelah's guilds: linen, dominion in Moab, and the king's clay — 4:21 to 4:23

The last movement leaves paternity behind for trades. K&D notes that the conjunction that had chained every family since v. 2 is dropped before בְּנֵי֙ šêlâh, marking Shelah's line as a second, co-ordinate stem of Judah. Its men are known by their work: the clans of הַבֻּ֖ץ (būts, H948, byssus), which Pulpit, citing Gesenius, says microscopic investigation in London settled to be linen and not cotton, and which Benson says clothed their kings and priests. JFB finds in this "another incidental evidence that in very early times certain trades were followed by particular families among the Hebrews"; Ellicott adds that such guilds "jealously guarded their methods and trade secrets." Then a memory too old to explain: Joash and Saraph בָּעֲל֥וּ (bāʻălū, H1166, were masters over, or married into) Moab, and the Chronicler himself breaks off to say וְהַדְּבָרִ֖ים עַתִּיקִֽים, the records are ancient. Cambridge finds no other trace of these two as rulers of Moab; Barnes suspects a rule older than David's conquest; Poole hears in the line a lament, that those blessed times are past and the degenerate posterity are now slaves. The unit's last word is not a name at all. It is בִּמְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ, in his work: potters dwelling at Netaim and Gederah with the king. Ellicott thinks these were a royal establishment; Cambridge, that the villagers were clients of the king and did his work; Maclaren, that they were kept and fed on the royal estates so that they might be free to mould, out of common clay, forms of beauty.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. Thirteen verses, roughly sixty names, and by the commentators' own admission most of them cannot be traced: Pulpit is in the dark, K&D says nothing has been handed down, Gill knows no more of Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth "than their names." A reader who wants edification has to decide what to do with a passage that offers none. Two things in the Hebrew seem to me to answer. First, the word that organizes the list is ʼâb, father, and it is almost never biological: Poole, Geneva and Gill all have to read it as lord of a valley, prince of a city, head of a guild. A genealogy is thereby quietly converted into a map of who kept what alive. Second, the passage ends where no genealogy is supposed to end, at a wheel. הַיּ֣וֹצְרִ֔ים is a participle, the ones who keep forming, and the last phrase of the block is with the king, in his work, they dwelt there. The men whose fathers ruled Moab are reduced to service, and Poole and Benson read that fall bitterly. I would read the same fall differently, and admit it is a reading, not a proof: Scripture spends its ink on a valley named after smiths, a house named after linen, and villages named after clay, which means the covenant's records keep workmen whom no chronicle of kings would have kept. Their names survive because God's book, not their achievement, is what holds them. The line that follows is the tool's own sentence, not Scripture.

A roll of untraceable names ends with hands at a wheel: the covenant keeps its workmen when history has forgotten what they made.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Ge-Harashim, the valley of craftsmen, and the men who were still there after the exile verbal / quotation: confirmed

The place name חֲרָשִׁ֔ים (Chărâshîym, H2798) occurs in exactly two verses of the canon: 1 Chronicles 4:14 and Nehemiah 11:35, where returning Benjaminites live in Lod, Ono and the valley of craftsmen. Cambridge makes the connection explicitly, noting the valley is mentioned in Nehemiah along with Lod, the Lydda of Acts 9:32, and was therefore probably near Lydda; Ellicott adds that Lod stood in this valley and was occupied by Benjamites after the return. JFB's note on the guild custom explains how such a place keeps its identity across the wreck of a kingdom: the same trade in the same quarter, from father to son, through many generations. The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes.

Nehemiah 11:35

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H2798 Chărâshîym (in 2 vv, which is the entire canonical occurrence, here and Nehemiah 11:35) and H1516 gayʼ (in 54 vv). The tier rests on the rarity of H2798, not on any quotation: the same valley is being named twice, centuries apart.

Othniel son of Kenaz: one line in a list, four verses of deliverance structural / thematic: confirmed

1 Chronicles 4:13 spends five words on Othniel and Seraiah. Joshua 15:17 and Judges 1:13 give the same Othniel son of Kenaz taking Kiriath-sepher and winning Achsah; Judges 3:9 to 11 makes him the first judge the LORD raises up to save Israel, and the land has rest forty years. JFB and Cambridge both cross-reference these passages from this verse, Cambridge calling him "the first of the Judges." Pulpit works through the relationships and confesses no real certainty about them. The Chronicler's silence about the deliverance is the point worth noticing: in Chronicles the judge is remembered as a lineage, in Judges as a rescue, and both are true of the same name.

Joshua 15:17 · Judges 1:13 · Judges 3:9-11

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6274 ʻOthnîyʼêl (in 6 vv), H7073 Qᵉnaz (in 11 vv), H3612 Kâlêb (in 35 vv). Deliberately downgraded from verbal: the shared lexemes are personal names carried across books by a compiler, and no verse here quotes another.

With the king, in his work: the royal estates of Judah verbal / quotation: confirmed

The closing clause of v. 23, with the king in his work they dwelt there, uses מְלָאכָה (mᵉlâʼkâh, H4399) for the king's business, and v. 21 had used עֲבֹדַ֥ת (ʻăbôdâh, H5656) for the linen work. Both nouns reappear at 1 Chronicles 27:26, in David's list of estate officers, where Ezri son of Chelub is over the field workers, and the rare name Chelub is the same lexeme that opened our unit at v. 11. Barnes draws the same inference from the same chapter, that "with the king" means on the king's property, since David and later kings held large territorial possessions; K&D cites 1 Chronicles 27:25 to 31 to argue that all the kings of Judah had domains where not only agriculture but trades were carried on. Ellicott calls the potteries a royal establishment.

1 Chronicles 27:26

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H3620 Kᵉlûwb (in 2 vv, only here and 1 Chronicles 27:26), H4399 mᵉlâʼkâh (in 149 vv), H5656 ʻăbôdâh (in 125 vv). The rare name plus both royal-service nouns. Note honestly: the Chelub of 27:26 is a different man; the lexical link is real, the identification is not claimed.

Er again: Shelah names a son after the brother who died structural / thematic: confirmed

Genesis 46:12 lists Judah's sons and records that Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan, leaving Shelah. At 1 Chronicles 4:21 Shelah's own firstborn is עֵ֚ר, Er. Ellicott notes the second Er "is, of course, distinct from Er the firstborn of Judah"; K&D makes the same observation, and Pulpit draws the conclusion plainly: "It would appear now that Shelah gave the name of the slain brother to his son." That is a family carrying a death forward on purpose, which is one of the few human gestures this unit lets us see.

Genesis 46:12

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H7956 Shêlâh (in 8 vv) and H6147 ʻÊr (in 7 vv). A repeated-name pattern within one family, not a citation; the inference that the naming is deliberate is Pulpit's, and is marked as his.

Eshtemoa: a town twice claimed here that Joshua gives to the priests structural / thematic: confirmed

This unit attaches Eshtemoa to two different houses: Ishbah is its father at v. 17, and a Maacathite line holds it at v. 19. Cambridge says the epithet "the Maachathite" exists precisely to distinguish the second from the first, and Ellicott allows that the two clans may have lived there side by side. Joshua 21:14 and 1 Chronicles 6:57 list Eshtemoa with its pasturelands among the cities given to the sons of Aaron, and 1 Samuel 30:28 has David send spoil there. K&D locates it in the hill country south of Hebron, at the ruins of Semua. So the town whose ownership this chapter cannot settle is elsewhere a priests' town.

Joshua 21:14 · 1 Chronicles 6:57 · 1 Samuel 30:28

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H851 ʼEshtᵉmôaʻ (in 6 vv) against each of the three refs. A shared place name inside a shared settlement motif; no verse quotes another, so the tier is structural rather than verbal despite the lexeme's rarity.

The records are ancient: a rare word that will not quite bear the weight flagged: verify source

The Chronicler's aside at v. 22, וְהַדְּבָרִ֖ים עַתִּיקִֽים, uses ʻattîyq (H6267), a lexeme that stands in only two verses of the canon. The other is Isaiah 28:9, where the same adjective describes those "removed" or weaned from the breasts. Strong's root sense, removed, covers both, but the applied senses part company: here it means old, there it means taken away from nursing. Gill takes our clause to mean an account of persons who lived in ancient times, given not on the writer's own knowledge "but by tradition, or rather by inspiration"; Cambridge follows the Revised Version, "the records are ancient." We record the lexical link and flag it, because rarity alone is carrying it and the meanings do not agree.

Isaiah 28:9

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H6267 ʻattîyq (in 2 vv). Flagged rather than tiered verbal: the lexeme is as rare as a lexeme gets, but the sense at Isaiah 28:9 (weaned, drawn away) is not the sense here (ancient), so the shared root may be all there is.

The ones who keep forming: a participle that Scripture later turns on the reader structural / thematic: confirmed

The men of v. 23 are הַיּ֣וֹצְרִ֔ים, a Qal participle of yâtsar (H3335), to mould into a form. It is a trade here and nothing more; the Chronicler makes no figure of it. But the same root is the one the prophets take up when God sends Jeremiah down to the potter's house and says, cannot I do with you as this potter (Jeremiah 18:6), and when Isaiah prays, we are the clay and you our potter (Isaiah 64:8). Maclaren, reading this verse, says frankly that he is reading into it "a meaning of which the writer of it never dreamt." We agree with his honesty: the shared root is real, and the figure it carries is a reading, which we keep labelled as one.

Jeremiah 18:6 · Isaiah 64:8

basis: Verifier, checked directly for this pair (1 Chronicles 4:23 against Jeremiah 18:6): shared Hebrew lexeme H3335 yâtsar (in 55 vv), returned as a structural / thematic link. Not verbal: the root is common and neither verse quotes the other. Isaiah 64:8 is listed on the same root but was not separately checked, and this pair was not among the candidates the brief supplied.

The cloth of kings and priests, and the linen given to the Bride typological

The guild of v. 21 worked הַבֻּ֖ץ (būts, H948), the byssus that Pulpit, following Gesenius, lists as the clothing of kings (1 Chronicles 15:27), of priests (2 Chronicles 5:12) and of the very wealthy (Esther 1:6; 8:15), and that Benson says these families were famous for weaving, the linen wherewith their kings and priests were clothed. Revelation 19:8 closes the same motif: the Bride is granted to be arrayed in fine linen, bright and clean, and the verse itself glosses the cloth as the righteous acts of the saints. The link is motif, not lexicon, and the badge says so: a Greek word and a Hebrew word cannot share a Strong's number. What the two ends hold in common is that Scripture keeps dressing its priests, its king's household and at last its Bride in one fabric, and that an obscure family in Judah wove it.

Revelation 19:8

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek against Hebrew), so no shared Strong's basis is possible and none is claimed; tiered typological rather than verbal, and never confirmed. The motif basis is the canonical use of būts (H948) for royal and priestly clothing, taken from Pulpit's note on this verse, set beside the fine linen of Revelation 19:8. The figure of the saints' linen is the New Testament's own; applying it to this guild of Shelah is our reading, and it is novel.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Vessels for the Master's use: the king's potters read forward novel

⚙ The unit's last picture is a hereditary caste of potters living on royal land, fed by the king so that their hands are free for the clay. Maclaren builds his sermon on exactly this and is candid that he is reading into the text: they were kept and cared for "that they might be free to mould, out of common clay, forms of beauty," and he borrows Paul's phrase about vessels meet for the master's use. Romans 9:20 to 21 and 2 Timothy 2:20 to 21 give the apostolic form of the figure, and it stands on the prophets (Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6) before it reaches Christ. What is ancient and widely held is the potter figure itself. What is Maclaren's own, and therefore marked novel here, is the application of this particular genealogical verse to the Christian's life with his Lord.

Romans 9:20-21 · 2 Timothy 2:20-21 · Isaiah 64:8

Bithiah: Pharaoh's daughter inside the house of Judah ancient/widely-held

⚙ Judah's genealogy was already carrying foreign blood before this chapter: Tamar at Genesis 38, Rahab and Ruth in the line that Matthew 1:3 to 6 traces down to the Christ. Here a daughter of Pharaoh is brought into the same tribe and is called bath-Yah, daughter of the LORD. Ellicott reads the name as marking "a convert to the religion of Israel"; JFB says the Egyptian party must first have renounced idolatry; Barnes says she may have forsaken her countrymen and cleaved to a Jewish husband. Benson doubts the royal marriage entirely, and we keep his doubt in view. Bithiah is not named in Matthew's genealogy and we do not put her there. The pattern is what the New Testament claims: that the Gentile brought near and made a fellow citizen with the saints (Ephesians 2:12 to 13) was written into Judah's house long before it was preached.

Matthew 1:3-6 · Ephesians 2:12-13

Serving in the meanest employments, or in the King's own work novel

⚙ Poole, reading v. 23 as a picture of exiles who stayed behind, judges them for "esteeming it a greater honour and happiness to serve that earthly monarch in the meanest employments, than to serve the King of kings in his temple," and Benson says the same. Their reading depends on dating this clause to the captivity, which Barnes, Cambridge, Ellicott and K&D all decline, placing the potters on the estates of Judah's own kings instead. We think the commentators who read it as royal domain service have the better of the argument. But Poole's phrase names the question the verse leaves standing for any reader: whose work is this life spent in. The New Testament answers by making the service itself the worship (Colossians 3:23 to 24), and by setting over it a King who says he is with his servants always (Matthew 28:20), which is the turn Maclaren takes from this very verse.

Colossians 3:23-24 · Matthew 28:20

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Verses 17 and 18 are damaged, and we have not hidden it. The verb wattahar at v. 17 has no feminine subject; v. 18 names two wives and supplies sons for only one. Ellicott, Cambridge and K&D (following Bertheau) all repair this by transposing the Bithiah clause up to follow Jalon; Barnes says restoration with certainty is impossible; Pulpit calls certain conclusions hopeless; the LXX makes Jether the parent of Miriam, and the Syriac and Arabic omit the two verses. Our literal renderings follow the Berean interlinear's word order as the brief gives it, which at 4:14, 4:18 and 4:22 does not match the clause order of the printed Hebrew; where that matters we have said so in the divergences rather than silently reordering. At 4:13 BSB's "Hathath and Meonothai" supplies words the Hebrew of that verse does not contain.

Sources. Twelve public-domain commentators were available for this unit and all twelve are quoted. Matthew Henry's Concise note is attached to the whole of chapter 4 and treats Jabez in vv. 9 to 10, outside our range; only his framing sentence about Judah is cited, and that is flagged in his editorial note. Maclaren's entry on 4:23 is a sermon and is capped in the brief; we quote only from the portion the brief carries and have not reconstructed the remainder. The Pulpit Commentary text as transmitted here contains scanning errors ("Eahtomoa" for Eshtemoa, "Gesenins" for Gesenius, "tho" for the); our excerpts reproduce the text exactly as it stands in the source rather than silently correcting it.

What is uncertain. Whether the Chelub of 4:11 is the Caleb of 1 Chronicles 2 (Ellicott leans yes, K&D no); whether the Kenizzites were absorbed Edomites (Ellicott) or Hezronites throughout (K&D); whether Bithiah was a real Egyptian princess (JFB, Barnes) or not (Benson, Gill); whether Joash and Saraph ruled Moab or married into it, since bâʻal carries both senses (Ellicott, Cambridge, Poole); whether the potters served a king of Judah (Barnes, Cambridge, Ellicott, K&D) or a foreign king in exile (Poole, Benson, Gill). We have recorded each dispute and resolved none of them beyond what the sources allow. The Targumic and Midrashic identifications reported by Gill and Cambridge (Jokim as Joshua, Joash and Saraph as Mahlon and Chilion, Bithiah as the princess who raised Moses) are recorded as traditions and rejected, as K&D, Cambridge and Gill themselves reject them. The one thread we have flagged is the H6267 link to Isaiah 28:9, where the shared lexeme is genuinely rare but the senses diverge.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)