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1 Chronicles5:23–26

The Half-Tribe of Manasseh

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1 Chronicles 5:23–26 — The Half-Tribe of Manasseh. 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.

23

Now the people of the half-tribe of Manasseh were numerous. They settled in the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon (that is, Senir, also known as Mount Hermon).

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê ḥă·ṣî šê·ḇeṭ mə·naš·šeh hêm·māh rā·ḇū yā·šə·ḇū bā·’ā·reṣ mib·bā·šān ‘aḏ- ba·‘al ḥer·mō·wn ū·śə·nîr wə·har- ḥer·mō·wn

Word by word15 · parsed
וּבְנֵ֗יū·ḇə·nêNow the peopleH1121
√ 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
חֲצִי֙ḥă·ṣîof the half-tribeH2677
√ chêtsîy — the half or middleNounmasculine singular construct
chêtsîy: the half or middle The tribe is named by a fracture. Manasseh alone among the tribes is permanently described by a fraction, half east of Jordan and half west, and the Chronicler will use the same word again in v. 26 when the eastern half is carried off.
שֵׁ֣בֶטšê·ḇeṭ. . .H7626
√ shêbeṭ — a scion, iNounmasculine singular construct
מְנַשֶּׁ֔הmə·naš·šehof ManassehH4519
√ Mᵉnashsheh — Menashsheh, a grandson of Jacob, also the tribe descended from him, and its territoryNounpropermasculine singular
הֵ֥מָּהhêm·māhvvvH1992
√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural
hêm: they (emphatic) The lexicon notes this pronoun is used only when emphatic. It throws the weight onto the subject before the verb lands: they, these ones, became many.
רָבֽוּ׃rā·ḇūwere numerousH7235
√ râbâh — to increase (in whatever respect)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
râbâh: to increase (in whatever respect) The verb of Genesis 1:28 and of the promise to the patriarchs. Placed as the first thing said of this half-tribe, it reads as blessing kept. The unit then spends three verses explaining how a people who had increased came to be deported, which is the Chronicler's whole point: multiplication is not the same as faithfulness.
יָשְׁב֖וּyā·šə·ḇūThey settledH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
yâshab: properly, to sit down A settled, judicial sitting, not a nomad's pause. The same root underwrites Israel's claim to dwell in the land, and the exile verbs of v. 26 (gâlâh, bôwʼ) are its exact undoing: he uncovered them and he brought them elsewhere.
בָּאָ֑רֶץbā·’ā·reṣin the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular
ʼerets: the earth, or partitively a land Definite: the land. The same noun returns in v. 25 as "the peoples of the land," so that the ground they sit on and the gods they chase share a single word.
מִבָּשָׁ֞ןmib·bā·šānfrom BashanH1316
√ Bâshân — Bashan (often with the article), a region East of the JordanPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular
Bashan, the fertile trans-Jordan plateau. Gill: their possession lay "in the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond Jordan, given them by Moses."
עַד־‘aḏ-toH5704
√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition
בַּ֧עַלba·‘alvvvH1179
√ Baʻal Chermôwn — Baal-Chermon, a place in PalestinePreposition
חֶרְמ֛וֹןḥer·mō·wnBaal-hermon (that isH1179
√ Baʻal Chermôwn — Baal-Chermon, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
Baʻal Chermôwn: Baal-Chermon, a place in Palestine A rare name, occurring in only two verses of the canon (here and Judges 3:3). Ellicott and Cambridge both suspect it is the later Banias at the foot of Hermon; Ellicott adds that it is "perhaps the same as Baal-gad" of Joshua 12:7 and 13:5. The name itself carries a Canaanite title, a quiet warning planted in the geography four verses before the charge of idolatry.
וּשְׂנִ֥ירū·śə·nîrSenirH8149
√ Shᵉnîyr — Shenir or Senir, a summit of LebanonConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular
Shᵉnîyr: Senir or Shenir, a summit of Lebanon A rare toponym in only four verses. Deuteronomy 3:9 records it as the Amorite name for Hermon; Ezekiel 27:5 draws Tyre's ship timber from it, and Song of Solomon 4:8 calls the bride down from its peaks. The northern boundary of Israel's reach is named in a foreign tongue.
וְהַר־wə·har-[also known as] MountH2022
√ har — a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
חֶרְמ֖וֹןḥer·mō·wnHermonH2768
√ Chermôwn — Chermon, a mount of PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
Chermôwn: Chermon, a mount of Palestine The far northern marker. K&D takes Senir and Mount Hermon as names for distinct parts of the one range rather than pure synonyms.
24

These were the heads of their families: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. They were mighty men of valor, famous men, and heads of their families.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’êl·leh rā·šê ’ă·ḇō·w·ṯām ḇêṯ- wə·‘ê·p̄er wə·yiš·‘î we·’ĕ·lî·’êl wə·‘az·rî·’êl wə·yir·mə·yāh wə·hō·w·ḏaw·yāh wə·yaḥ·dî·’êl gib·bō·w·rê ’an·šê ḥa·yil šê·mō·wṯ ’ă·nā·šîm rā·šîm ’ă·ḇō·w·ṯām lə·ḇêṯ

Word by word19 · parsed
וְאֵ֖לֶּהwə·’êl·lehTheseH428
√ ʼêl-leh — these or thoseConjunctive wawPronouncommon plural
רָאשֵׁ֣יrā·šêwere the headsH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine plural construct
rôʼsh: the head, literal or figurative The same noun frames the verse at both ends (i. 1 and i. 16), so the seven names sit inside an inclusio of headship. In Chronicles this is an administrative term: these are the men through whom the clan is reckoned and levied.
אֲבוֹתָ֑ם’ă·ḇō·w·ṯāmof their familiesH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
ʼâb: father, literal and immediate or figurative and remote In the construct chain bêṯ ʼāḇôṯ the word is genealogical architecture, not biography. It is the same word that v. 25 turns into an accusation: the God of their fathers is the one they betray.
בֵית־ḇêṯ-. . .H1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
bayith: a house, especially family Construct with ʼāḇôṯ; the pair forms one technical unit, the ancestral house.
וְעֵ֡פֶרwə·‘ê·p̄erEpherH6081
√ ʻÊpher — Epher, the name of an Arabian and of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְיִשְׁעִ֡יwə·yiš·‘îIshiH3469
√ Yishʻîy — Jishi, the name of four IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וֶאֱלִיאֵ֡לwe·’ĕ·lî·’êlElielH447
√ ʼĔlîyʼêl — Eliel, the name of nine IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְ֠עַזְרִיאֵלwə·‘az·rî·’êlAzrielH5837
√ ʻAzrîyʼêl — Azriel, the name of three IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְיִרְמְיָ֨הwə·yir·mə·yāhJeremiahH3414
√ Yirmᵉyâh — Jirmejah, the name of eight or nine IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְהוֹדַוְיָ֜הwə·hō·w·ḏaw·yāhHodaviahH1938
√ Hôwdavyâh — Hodavjah, the name of three IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
וְיַחְדִּיאֵ֗לwə·yaḥ·dî·’êland JahdielH3164
√ Yachdîyʼêl — Jachdiel, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
גִּבּ֣וֹרֵיgib·bō·w·rê[They were] mightyH1368
√ gibbôwr — powerfulAdjectivemasculine plural construct
gibbôwr: powerful The word behind the gibborim of Genesis 6:4 and of David's roll of champions. Here it is attached to men of whom, as Gill and K&D both admit, nothing else at all is recorded. The Chronicler grants them the strongest word in his vocabulary and then says no more.
אַנְשֵׁ֣י’an·šêmenH582
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine plural construct
חַ֔יִלḥa·yilof valorH2428
√ chayil — probably a force, whether of men, means or other resourcesNounmasculine singular
chayil: a force, whether of men, means or other resources Paired with gibbôwrê it forms the standing idiom for the class of men who can field and fund a fighting unit. The Pulpit Commentary points to 1 Chronicles 12:19-22 as confirming this half-tribe's reputation for valour.
שֵׁמ֔וֹתšê·mō·wṯfamousH8034
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine plural
shêm: an appellation, a mark or memorial of individuality Seven names, a memorial and nothing else. Ellicott turns the silence into evidence: the very meagreness of the record shows the Chronicler is preserving fragments of sources rather than composing freely.
אֲנָשִׁים֙’ă·nā·šîmmenH582
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Nounmasculine plural
רָאשִׁ֖יםrā·šîmand headsH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine plural
Repetition of rôʼsh, closing the frame opened in i. 1.
אֲבוֹתָֽם׃’ă·ḇō·w·ṯāmof their familiesH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
The suffix "their" ties the seven back to the half-tribe of v. 23, not to a new group.
לְבֵ֥יתlə·ḇêṯ. . .H1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
25

But they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and they prostituted themselves with the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yim·‘ă·lū bê·lō·hê ’ă·ḇō·w·ṯê·hem way·yiz·nū ’a·ḥă·rê ’ĕ·lō·hê ‘am·mê- hā·’ā·reṣ ’ă·šer- ’ĕ·lō·hîm hiš·mîḏ mip·pə·nê·hem

Word by word12 · parsed
וַיִּֽמְעֲל֔וּway·yim·‘ă·lūBut they were unfaithfulH4603
√ mâʻal — properly, to cover upConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
mâʻal: properly, to cover up Chronicles' signature verb for covenant treachery, the same charge it lays on Achan, on Saul (1 Chronicles 10:13) and on Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:16). Cambridge ties it to Joshua 22:16-31, where the trans-Jordan tribes were already suspected of exactly this sin at the altar by the river. The Chronicler is closing a case opened in Joshua.
בֵּאלֹהֵ֖יbê·lō·hêto the GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary sensePreposition-bNounmasculine plural construct
ʼĕlôhîym: gods in the ordinary sense Plural in form, singular in reference, and bound to "their fathers," so the betrayal is of an inherited and covenanted God, not of a preference. The interlinear marks a prefixed beth: mâʻal takes its object with b, so the treachery is committed in him, inside the relationship rather than from outside it. That is what makes it sacrilege rather than mere defection.
אֲבוֹתֵיהֶ֑ם’ă·ḇō·w·ṯê·hemof their fathersH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
וַיִּזְנ֗וּway·yiz·nūand they prostitutedH2181
√ zânâh — to commit adultery (usually of the female, and less often of simple fornication, rarely of involuntary ravishment)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
zânâh: to commit adultery The prophetic figure for idolatry, which presupposes a marriage. Ellicott makes the grammar of the metaphor explicit: Yahweh is Israel's true Lord and Husband, so apostasy is adultery by definition. Benson supplies the mechanism: living on the borders and conversing with the neighbouring nations, they learned their idolatrous usages.
אַחֲרֵי֙’a·ḥă·rêthemselves withH310
√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition
ʼachar: properly, the hind part To go after a god is the covenant idiom for allegiance. The preposition is neutral; only its object condemns.
אֱלֹהֵ֣י’ĕ·lō·hêthe godsH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural construct
עַמֵּי־‘am·mê-of the peoplesH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Nounmasculine plural construct
ʻam: a people as a congregated unit Cambridge insists on the plural of the Revised Version, "the peoples of the land," which is what the construct plural ‘am·mê requires.
הָאָ֔רֶץhā·’ā·reṣof the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whomH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אֱלֹהִ֖ים’ĕ·lō·hîmGodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
ʼĕlôhîym: gods in the ordinary sense The identical form that named the idols in i. 5 now names the God who swept them away, and the verb attached to it is singular. The Chronicler makes the contrast with grammar rather than argument.
הִשְׁמִ֥ידhiš·mîḏhad destroyedH8045
√ shâmad — to desolateVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
shâmad: to desolate (Hifil) The causative stem: the dispossession of the Canaanites is God's act, not Israel's achievement. Ellicott draws the conclusion that governs v. 26 as well: "The reduction of the Canaanites was, to the mind of the chronicler, a Divine work." The same hand that cleared the land can clear it again.
מִפְּנֵיהֶֽם׃mip·pə·nê·hembefore themH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-mNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural
pânîym: the face, as the part that turns Literally "from their faces." The idiom of being driven out of someone's presence, which is precisely the sentence about to fall on the drivers.
26

So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria) to take the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. And he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this day.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ĕ·lō·hê yiś·rā·’êl way·yā·‘ar ’eṯ- rū·aḥ pūl me·leḵ- ’aš·šūr wə·’eṯ- rū·aḥ til·lə·ḡaṯ pil·ne·ser me·leḵ ’aš·šūr lā·r·’ū·ḇê·nî wə·lag·gā·ḏî wə·la·ḥă·ṣî šê·ḇeṭ mə·naš·šeh way·yaḡ·lêm way·ḇî·’êm laḥ·laḥ wə·ḥā·ḇō·wr wə·hā·rā ū·nə·har gō·w·zān ‘aḏ haz·zeh hay·yō·wm

Word by word29 · parsed
אֱלֹהֵ֨י’ĕ·lō·hêSo the GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural construct
ʼĕlôhîym: gods in the ordinary sense "The God of Israel" is placed after its verb, so the sentence opens with the rousing and only then names who did it. Gill records that the Targum reads "the word of the God of Israel" here.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֜לyiś·rā·’êlof IsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וַיָּעַר֩way·yā·‘arstirred upH5782
√ ʻûwr — to wake (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
ʻûwr: to wake, literally or figuratively (Hifil) The decisive theological claim of the unit. The Assyrian campaign is not permitted, it is awakened, and the same verb stands over Cyrus in Ezra 1:1. Ellicott sets this beside Isaiah 10:5-15 and notes the irony that Assyrian kings credited their own gods for the very campaigns Scripture credits to Yahweh. Geneva keeps the moral distinction intact: God used the wicked as instruments of just judgment "although they were led by malice and ambition."
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
ר֣וּחַ׀rū·aḥthe spiritH7307
√ rûwach — windNouncommon singular construct
rûwach: wind What is moved is the interior of a pagan king. The noun is repeated for Tiglath-pileser, so the Chronicler claims two separate acts of divine rousing, not one.
פּ֣וּלpūlof PulH6322
√ Pûwl — Pul, the name of an Assyrian king and of an Ethiopian tribeNounpropermasculine singular
Pûwl: Pul, an Assyrian king A rare name, in only three verses of the canon. Ellicott reports that no trace of Pul as a figure distinct from Tiglath-pileser appears in the contemporary Assyrian monuments, and that Tiglath-pileser II claims tribute from the same Menahem who paid Pul in 2 Kings 15:19. Cambridge states flatly that Pul is the earlier name and Tiglath-pileser the royal name of one man; JFB, writing earlier, calls Tiglath-pileser "the son of the former." The commentators are divided, and the text itself only sets the two names side by side.
מֶֽלֶךְ־me·leḵ-kingH4428
√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct
אַשּׁ֗וּר’aš·šūrof AssyriaH804
√ ʼAshshûwr — Ashshur, the second son of ShemNounproperfeminine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-that isH853
√ 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
ר֙וּחַ֙rū·aḥ. . .H7307
√ rûwach — windNouncommon singular construct
תִּלְּגַ֤תtil·lə·ḡaṯvvvH8407
√ Tiglath Pilʼeçer — Tiglath-Pileser or Tilgath-pilneser, an Assyryrian king
פִּלְנֶ֙סֶר֙pil·ne·serTiglath-pileserH8407
√ Tiglath Pilʼeçer — Tiglath-Pileser or Tilgath-pilneser, an Assyryrian kingNounpropermasculine singular
Tiglath Pilʼeçer: an Assyrian king Spelled Tilgath-Pilneser in Chronicles, with the consonants transposed against the form in Kings. The deportation verb that follows is singular and attaches to him.
מֶ֣לֶךְme·leḵkingH4428
√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct
אַשּׁ֔וּר’aš·šūrof AssyriaH804
√ ʼAshshûwr — Ashshur, the second son of ShemNounproperfeminine singular
לָראוּבֵנִ֣יlā·r·’ū·ḇê·nîto take the ReubenitesH7206
√ Rᵉʼûwbênîy — a Reubenite or descendant of ReubenPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
וְלַגָּדִ֔יwə·lag·gā·ḏîthe GaditesH1425
√ Gâdîy — a Gadite (collectively) or descendants of GadConjunctive waw, Preposition-l, ArticleNounpropermasculine singular
וְלַחֲצִ֖יwə·la·ḥă·ṣîand the half-tribeH2677
√ chêtsîy — the half or middleConjunctive waw, Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular construct
chêtsîy: the half or middle The same fraction that opened the unit at 5:23 now closes it in the exile list. What was a description of territory has become a unit of deportation.
שֵׁ֣בֶטšê·ḇeṭ. . .H7626
√ shêbeṭ — a scion, iNounmasculine singular construct
מְנַשֶּׁ֑הmə·naš·šehof ManassehH4519
√ Mᵉnashsheh — Menashsheh, a grandson of Jacob, also the tribe descended from him, and its territoryNounpropermasculine singular
וַיַּגְלֵם֙way·yaḡ·lêminto exileH1540
√ gâlâh — to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural
gâlâh: to denude, especially in a disgraceful sense The word Israel uses for exile is a word for exposure. To be deported is to be stripped of covering, which is the exact reversal of mâʻal in v. 25, whose root sense the lexicon gives as "to cover up." They covered over their treachery; God uncovered them.
וַ֠יְבִיאֵםway·ḇî·’êmAnd he brought themH935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural
bôwʼ: to go or come (Hifil) "He caused them to come." The same causative that brought Israel into the land now brings them out of it, and the subject is still the God of Israel by way of his roused instrument.
לַחְלַ֨חlaḥ·laḥto HalahH2477
√ Chălach — Chalach, a region of AssyriaPreposition-lNounproperfeminine singular
וְחָב֤וֹרwə·ḥā·ḇō·wrHaborH2249
√ Châbôwr — Chabor, a river of AssyriaConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular
וְהָרָא֙wə·hā·rāHaraH2024
√ Hârâʼ — Hara, a region of MediaConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular
וּנְהַ֣רū·nə·harand the riverH5104
√ nâhâr — a stream (including the seaConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
nâhâr: a stream (including the sea) Construct: "the river of Gozan," not a river named Gozan. The Pulpit Commentary notes that the Authorized Version gets this backwards here while getting it backwards in the opposite direction at 2 Kings 17:6.
גּוֹזָ֔ןgō·w·zānof GozanH1470
√ Gôwzân — Gozan, a province of AssyriaNounproperfeminine singular
Gôwzân: Gozan, a province of Assyria A rare toponym, in only five verses, and the strongest verbal hinge between this passage and the deportation notices of 2 Kings 17:6 and 18:11.
עַ֖ד‘aḏwhere they remain toH5704
√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition
הַזֶּֽה׃פhaz·zehthisH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
Demonstrative closing the formula "unto this day."
הַיּ֥וֹםhay·yō·wmdayH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine singular
yôwm: a day, literal or figurative "Unto this day" is the Chronicler's own present, not the reader's. Gill dates it to "the times of Ezra, the writer of this book, after the tribe of Judah returned from the captivity of Babylon," and observes that these tribes had not returned. The genealogy ends with a wound still open.

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. A blessing measured in mountains — 5:23

The unit opens with a verb of blessing. רָבֽוּ (râbâh, H7235) is the increase promised to the patriarchs, and the emphatic pronoun הֵ֥מָּה puts the weight on the people themselves: they became many. Then comes the map. Ellicott traces their territory "from Bashan, the domain of Gad, in the south, to the mountains of Hermon, or Antilibanus, in the north," and identifies Senir as "the Amorite name of the range of Hermon." Barnes reads the three names, Baal-Hermon, Senir and Mount Hermon, not as synonyms for the whole massif but as "three parts of the mountain," perhaps its three summits; the Pulpit Commentary agrees that they are "different sides or heights of what was essentially one and the same well-known mountain district." K&D takes Bashan here to be the Bashan inhabited by Gad in v. 12. ⚙ What none of them says, and what the Hebrew lets us notice, is that the northern limit of this blessing is a Canaanite title: Baal-Hermon. The boundary stone of their prosperity already bears the name of the god they will be charged with chasing two verses later.

ii. Seven names and a closed record — 5:24

The Chronicler gives seven heads of fathers' houses and then stops. Gill, K&D and the Pulpit Commentary all confirm the silence in the same words: of these men nothing further is recorded anywhere. K&D adds a textual oddity, that the list "begins strangely with ו (ואפר); perhaps a name has fallen out before it," which is a conjecture and not a variant. Against this bareness Ellicott makes the sharpest claim in the unit: "The meagre memorial of their names has at least this value: it proves that abundant materials for the history of Israel once existed, of which our canonical books have preserved authentic fragments." ⚙ That is an argument from poverty. A writer inventing a genealogy supplies deeds; a writer excerpting an archive copies names he cannot expand. The Hebrew reinforces it: שֵׁמ֔וֹת (shêm, H8034) is a noun, "men of names," and the lexicon glosses shêm as a mark or memorial of individuality. The verse is a memorial and knows it is only that.

iii. The covering and the uncovering — 5:25

Two verbs carry the indictment. וַיִּֽמְעֲל֔וּ (mâʻal, H4603) is sacrilege, not mood: Cambridge notes that the verb "has a special reference to unlawful or idolatrous worship and also to the violation of a consecrated thing," citing Joshua 22:16, 20 and 31, where these very trans-Jordan tribes stood accused at the altar by the river. Ellicott points the same word at Achan in Joshua 7:1. The second verb, וַיִּזְנ֗וּ (zânâh, H2181), is adultery, and Ellicott explains why the metaphor is not decoration: "Jehovah was the true Lord (Ba'al) and Husband (Ish) of Israel. Apostasy from Him is, in the prophetic language, whoredom." The Pulpit Commentary observes how foreign this vocabulary is to Chronicles, counting the root roughly ninety-seven times in the Pentateuch, Judges, Joshua, Psalms, Proverbs and the prophets but only four times in Chronicles. Benson supplies the sociology: "lying upon the borders, and conversing with the neighbouring nations, they learned their idolatrous usages." K&D corrects a natural misreading, that the subject of wayyimʻălû is not Manasseh alone but all the trans-Jordan tribes, as v. 26 makes clear. ⚙ The lexicon's root sense for mâʻal is "to cover up," and that is worth holding until v. 26 arrives.

iv. God wakes an empire — 5:26

The sentence does not say Assyria invaded. It says the God of Israel woke a spirit: וַיָּעַר֩ (ʻûwr, H5782, Hifil), the verb that Ellicott files with Ezra 1:1, where the same God wakes the spirit of Cyrus. K&D preserves Lavater's rendering, "in mentem illis dedit, movit eos, ut expeditionem facerent contra illos." Poole says God "so governed his counsels and affections, that he should bring his forces against this people rather than others." Geneva alone states the moral arithmetic: God "used them as instruments to execute his just judgment against sinners, although they were led by malice and ambition." On the identity of the two kings the sources genuinely split: JFB calls Tiglath-pileser "the son of the former"; Cambridge says there is "no doubt that Pul is the earlier and Tiglath-pileser the royal name of the same king"; Ellicott reports that no trace of Pul as a distinct monarch appears on the contemporary monuments and suggests "Perhaps the chronicler meant to indicate the identity of Pûl and Tiglath." The Pulpit Commentary goes a fourth way again, proposing an identification with Vul-lush from the monuments. On the destinations they split again: Barnes identifies Hara with Haran of Genesis 11:31, and the Pulpit Commentary follows him, while Cambridge answers that "no place of this name is known" and the reading may be corrupt for "the cities of the Medes" of 2 Kings 17:6. ⚙ The Hebrew supplies the closing irony. וַיַּגְלֵם֙ (gâlâh, H1540) means to denude, to strip bare; mâʻal in v. 25 means to cover up. They covered; he uncovered. And the last word is Gill's: "unto this day" is Ezra's day, and they had not come back.

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

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. Read as a single sentence, the unit says: they became many, they sat down, they covered up, they were uncovered. Nothing in v. 23 is a sin. Fertile land, a border pushed to the snowline, seven men strong enough to be called gibbôwrê ḥayil: every clause is a blessing granted and kept. That is precisely why the Chronicler puts it first. He is not warning against prosperity; he is refusing to let prosperity count as evidence. Matthew Henry moralizes that they "would have the best land, not considering that it lay most exposed," and Benson blames the border and its conversations. Both may be right as history, but neither is in the verse. What is in the verse is a verb: mâʻal, the word Chronicles uses for Achan, for Saul, for Uzziah, and which the lexicon roots in the idea of covering over. Treachery here is not appetite but concealment, holding the form of the covenant while the substance has gone elsewhere. And the punishment is built from the same picture in reverse. To be exiled, gâlâh, is to be denuded. God does not answer the sin with something unrelated; he answers a covering with an uncovering, and he does it by waking a pagan king in his sleep. The hardest line to swallow is the one Geneva refuses to soften: the same act is Assyrian ambition and divine justice at once, and Scripture assigns full responsibility to both without dividing the deed. Then the genealogy simply stops, "unto this day," with the exiles still in Halah and Habor and Hara. A book written to encourage returned exiles ends this chapter with a list of people who did not return. That is honest bookkeeping, and it is the reason the Chronicler can be trusted when he reports better news elsewhere.

Not a verse, a reading: they covered, and so they were uncovered; exile is the sin turned inside out and worn in public.

⚙

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.

Halah, Habor and the river of Gozan: the same deportation notice verbal / quotation: confirmed

The place list of v. 26 is almost word for word the list of 2 Kings 17:6 and 18:11, where the northern kingdom is carried off. The Verifier finds three shared lexemes, of which גּוֹזָ֔ן (Gôwzân, H1470) occurs in only five verses of the whole canon. Ellicott and K&D both notice the overlap and draw opposite conclusions about it: Ellicott sees no difficulty, suggesting Sargon may have reinforced existing Israelite settlements in northern Assyria, while K&D raises the question whether the Chronicler is working from a source or from "general recollection, in which the times of Shalmaneser and of Tiglath-pileser are not very accurately distinguished (Berth.)." K&D then argues for the source, chiefly because Chronicles inverts the order of the names and supplies Hara, which Kings does not have. ⚙ The verbal link is beyond dispute; what it proves about the events is not.

2 Kings 17:6 · 2 Kings 18:11

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1470 Gôwzân (rare, in 5 vv), H1540 gâlâh (in 167 vv), H804 ʼAshshûwr (in 138 vv). The rarity of Gôwzân carries the link; the phrase order differs between Chronicles and Kings, so this is a shared source formula, not a quotation of Kings by Chronicles.

Baal-hermon: a name used only twice verbal / quotation: confirmed

בַּ֧עַל חֶרְמ֛וֹן (Baʻal Chermôwn, H1179) appears in exactly two verses of Scripture: here, as the boundary of Manasseh's prosperity, and Judges 3:3, where it marks the territory of the Canaanite nations the Lord left in the land "to test Israel." Cambridge notes the Judges occurrence directly and suggests that here a city is meant, "possibly Banias"; Ellicott proposes it is the same as Baal-gad of Joshua 12:7 and 13:5. ⚙ The two occurrences read as a single frame around this unit. The place named for testing at the edge of Israel's reach is the place this half-tribe made its northern limit, and the chapter ends with the test failed.

Judges 3:3 · Joshua 13:5

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H1179 Baʻal Chermôwn, which occurs in only 2 verses in the canon. Joshua 13:5 is added on Ellicott's proposed identification with Baal-gad and is not a Verifier lexeme match.

Senir: the mountain under its Amorite name verbal / quotation: confirmed

וּשְׂנִ֥יר (Shᵉnîyr, H8149) occurs in only four verses. Deuteronomy 3:9 records it as what the Amorites called Hermon; Ezekiel 27:5 cuts Tyre's ship planks from it; Song of Solomon 4:8 calls the bride to come down from its summits. Ellicott and Cambridge both cite Deuteronomy 3:9 for the Amorite naming, and the Pulpit Commentary notes that the consonants שְׂנִיר are identical in all four places. K&D holds that here and in Ezekiel the name designates a part of the range rather than the whole. ⚙ Israel's northern horizon keeps a foreign name in the canon's own mouth, which is a small, honest admission that the land was never simply theirs.

Deuteronomy 3:9 · Song of Solomon 4:8 · Ezekiel 27:5

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H8149 Shᵉnîyr (rare, in 4 vv), with H2768 Chermôwn (in 13 vv) shared with Deuteronomy 3:9 and Song of Solomon 4:8. Rarity of the toponym carries the link; no quotation is claimed.

Pul and the tribute of Menahem verbal / quotation: confirmed

פּ֣וּל (Pûwl, H6322) is named in only three verses. 2 Kings 15:19 is the narrative this verse presupposes: Pul came against the land, and Menahem paid him a thousand talents of silver. K&D states the sequence plainly: "Pul is mentioned as being the first Assyrian king who attacked the land of Israel, cf. 2 Kings 15:19. The deportation began, however, only with Tiglath-pileser." The Pulpit Commentary reads the first visit as "a lesson and a warning" that was bought off, and the second as the completer punishment. ⚙ The Chronicler compresses two reigns into one clause because his interest is not the chronology but the single roused rûach behind both.

2 Kings 15:19 · 2 Kings 15:29

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6322 Pûwl (rare, in 3 vv) and H804 ʼAshshûwr (in 138 vv) with 2 Kings 15:19. 2 Kings 15:29 is added on K&D's and JFB's citation and is not itself a Verifier lexeme match.

Hara: a name the commentators cannot place flagged: verify source

וְהָרָא֙ (Hârâʼ, H2024) is the one destination in v. 26 that Kings does not list, and the sources contradict each other about it. Barnes writes that "Hara is probably the same as Haran, Genesis 11:31, 2 Kings 19:12, Ezekiel 27:23, being a softening down of the rugged original Kharan," and the Pulpit Commentary agrees, identifying it with Carrhae, while admitting that placing Haran here "occasions some difficulty." Cambridge flatly disagrees: "No place of this name is known; the reading may be corrupt for and in the cities of the Medes." K&D takes a third road, calling Hârâʼ an Aramaic form of Hebrew har, mountains, for the Median highlands, and argues that the name "can therefore only have been handed down from the exiles who dwelt there." ⚙ Three respected sources, three incompatible identifications, no Verifier lexeme link to Genesis 11:31. We record the dispute and claim nothing.

2 Kings 17:6 · Genesis 11:31

basis: Contested. The Verifier records no shared lexeme with Genesis 11:31; H2024 Hârâʼ does not appear in the 2 Kings 17:6 candidate basis, which rests on H804, H1540 and H1470. Barnes and the Pulpit Commentary equate Hara with Haran, Cambridge calls the reading possibly corrupt, K&D derives it from Hebrew har. Provenance of the identification is disputed and the link is offered for verification, not asserted.

Friendship with the world, named adultery structural / thematic: confirmed

The Hebrew charge of v. 25 is zânâh, adultery against a husband, and Ellicott grounds it in the marriage figure: "Jehovah was the true Lord (Ba'al) and Husband (Ish) of Israel." James 4:4 makes the identical move in Greek, addressing believers who love the world as adulteresses, and 1 Corinthians 10:5-11 reads Israel's wilderness idolatry as written down for the instruction of the church. ⚙ This is a Greek to Hebrew link, so no shared Strong's number exists and none is claimed. The connection is a shared figure of speech carrying a shared theological structure: covenant as marriage, idolatry as infidelity. We tier it structural for that reason, and note that James does not cite this verse.

James 4:4 · 1 Corinthians 10:11

basis: Cross-Testament Greek to Hebrew: shared Strong's numbers are impossible by definition and none is offered. The basis is the shared covenant-marriage figure, stated for the Hebrew side by Ellicott on this verse, and the shared conclusion that idolatry is infidelity. No quotation of 1 Chronicles 5:25 occurs in either New Testament passage.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The woken spirit of a pagan king ancient/widely-held

⚙ The load-bearing verb of this unit is וַיָּעַר֩ (ʻûwr, H5782, Hifil), God waking the inner motion of a foreign monarch. Ellicott connects it directly to Ezra 1:1, where the same verb wakes Cyrus to send the exiles home, and to Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1-13, where Cyrus is called God's shepherd and his anointed. Ellicott also draws the sharper irony: the Assyrian kings themselves credited Istar and Bel for these campaigns, and "it was not given to them to attain to the higher vision of the Hebrew prophets and priests, who saw but one guiding and controlling power at the summit of the world." Geneva states the moral logic without flinching: God "used them as instruments to execute his just judgment against sinners, although they were led by malice and ambition." That exact double accounting is what the apostles pray in Acts 4:27-28, where Herod, Pilate, Gentiles and Israel gather against the holy servant Jesus to do whatever God's hand and purpose had predestined to occur. The pattern of this verse, that God governs the free malice of empires without absolving it, reaches its limit at the cross. This is the ancient and widely-held reading of divine sovereignty over pagan rulers; Ellicott, Geneva, Poole, Benson and K&D all read 1 Chronicles 5:26 this way, and the application to the crucifixion is the church's from the beginning.

Ezra 1:1 · Isaiah 10:5-15 · Acts 4:27-28

The husband his bride left ancient/widely-held

⚙ Ellicott's gloss on v. 25 is the door: apostasy is whoredom only because Yahweh is Israel's genuine husband. Hosea builds a book on it, and the New Testament does not drop the figure but completes it, with Christ as the husband who loves the adulterous assembly and cleanses her rather than divorcing her (Ephesians 5:25-27), and with Paul jealous over a church he means to present as a pure bride (2 Corinthians 11:2). The difference the gospel makes is visible against this verse: here the response to zânâh is gâlâh, uncovering and deportation; there the response is a husband who bears the uncovering himself. The marriage reading of Israel's idolatry is ancient and held in common by the commentators here; the specific contrast between the exile of v. 26 and the washing of Ephesians 5 is our own framing.

Hosea 2:16 · Ephesians 5:25-27 · 2 Corinthians 11:2

At the foot of Hermon, a better confession novel

⚙ This one is offered tentatively and should be tested. Ellicott says Baal-hermon is "perhaps the same as Baal-gad, the modern town of Banias"; Cambridge says "here probably a city is meant, possibly Banias"; K&D locates it "in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon, probably the present Bnjas, at the foot of Hermon." Banias is Caesarea Philippi. If those three identifications hold, then the northern boundary stone of a tribe that went whoring after the gods of the land is the same ground where Peter later answers "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," and where Jesus promises that the gates of Hades will not prevail (Matthew 16:13-18). ⚙ We claim no typology intended by the Chronicler and no commentator quoted here draws this line. It is a geographical coincidence with theological weight, and it is honest only if labelled as ours: the place named for a Canaanite Baal becomes the place where the true Son is named.

Matthew 16:13-18

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)
  • 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: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers for all four verses; all four are Hebrew with full word-level parsing, so every note key here is a real word index. No textual variant is adopted anywhere in this unit.

Known uncertainties, stated rather than smoothed. (1) Verse 24 opens with a conjunction. K&D suggests "perhaps a name has fallen out before it" before we-Epher. That is a conjecture about the text, not a reading supported by manuscripts, and nothing in the interlinear supports emendation. (2) Pul and Tiglath-pileser. JFB calls the second "the son of the former"; Cambridge says there is "no doubt" they are one king under two names; Ellicott reports no monumental trace of a distinct Pul and cites Schrader's identification of Pul with Ptolemy's Porus. The Hebrew only places the two names in parallel with a repeated rûach. We report the disagreement and take no side. (3) Hara. Barnes and the Pulpit Commentary identify it with Haran; Cambridge says no such place is known and the reading may be corrupt; K&D derives it from Aramaic for mountains. The corresponding thread is badged "flagged: verify source" for this reason. (4) Who sinned. K&D argues the subject of wayyimʻălû in v. 25 is not Manasseh alone but all the trans-Jordan tribes, and the Pulpit Commentary agrees. This is an inference from v. 26, not a statement of v. 25.

Sources: the commentary excerpts are public domain and quoted verbatim from Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, the Geneva notes, Cambridge, the Pulpit Commentary and Keil & Delitzsch, each named at its claim. Several entries in this brief (Henry on the whole chapter, Barnes on the Hermon names, JFB on the Hagarites) are repeated across verses in the source, so a voice may address the chapter rather than the single verse it is attached to. Thread bases are Verifier-computed shared Strong's lexemes with canon frequencies; where no such basis exists, the badge says so. The cross-Testament thread cannot use shared Strong's numbers and is tiered structural for that reason. The Caesarea Philippi reading under the Christ section is marked novel and is ours, not any commentator's. Every ⚙ paragraph is machine synthesis and fallible.

✦ = 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)