וְיוֹחָנָ֖ןwə·yō·w·ḥā·nānJohananH3110 √ Yôwchânân — Jochanan, the name of nine IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Yôwchânân: Jochanan, the name of nine Israelites The name carries the theophoric ending -yāh, and Strong's warns at once that nine different Israelites wear it. That ambiguity is not incidental to this verse: JFB reports it is “doubtful whether the person in favor of whom this testimony is borne be Johanan or Azariah,” and Benson and Poole both float the possibility that this Johanan is the Jehoiada of 2 Kings 11.
הוֹלִ֣ידhō·w·lîḏwas the father ofH3205 √ yâlad — to bear youngVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
yâlad: to bear young (Hifil) The causative of the ordinary verb for giving birth, and the spine of 1 Chronicles 6:4-15. K&D draws the structural conclusion the form invites: “the purpose of the enumeration in 1 Chronicles 6:4-15 was to communicate the succession of high priests from Eleazar” down to Jehozadak. He also concedes that in genealogical lists the verb “may express mediate procreation,” so a link here may be a grandson, not a son: the register counts offices more reliably than it counts births.
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
ʼêth: marker of the definite object Untranslatable; it simply marks Azariah as the one born.
עֲזַרְיָ֑ה‘ă·zar·yāhAzariahH5838 √ ʻĂzaryâh — Azarjah, the name of nineteen IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
ʻĂzaryâh: Azarjah, the name of nineteen Israelites Nineteen men in the Old Testament carry this name, and at least two of them are high priests in this very chapter's line. Barnes presses the arithmetic against the traditional reading: Zadok, who lived into Solomon's reign, “cannot have been succeeded by a great-great-grandson,” so the note about Solomon's temple belongs to the earlier Azariah. The commentators disagree, and the Hebrew does nothing to settle it.
√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular
hûwʼ: he (she or it) A pronoun Hebrew could have omitted, inserted to single one man out of a list of twenty-two names. It is the register's only editorial gesture in this verse: out of an unbroken chain of begetting, one link is pointed at. Every commentator in the apparatus is really arguing about the antecedent of this one word.
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
ʼăsher: who, which, that The relative that opens the singled-out clause.
כִּהֵ֔ןki·hênserved as priestH3547 √ kâhan — to officiate as a priestVerbPielPerfectthird person masculine singular
kâhan: to officiate as a priest A verb made from the noun “priest,” so the sentence says the priest priested. Poole and Benson both note the obvious objection, that all the men in this list did the same, and both answer that the point is manner rather than fact: “he filled his place well, and valiantly discharged his office” (Benson). Geneva names the deed it has in mind, that he “valiantly resisted king Uzziah.”
בַּבַּ֕יִתbab·ba·yiṯin the templeH1004 √ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
bayith: a house (family, household, temple) One Hebrew noun covers dwelling, dynasty and sanctuary. In a chapter whose whole business is fathers and sons, the office is finally located not in a bloodline but in a building, and the building is named by the man who put it up rather than by the God who filled it. JFB and Poole agree on why: it is “described in this particular manner to distinguish it from the second temple, which was in existence at the time when this history was written.”
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
שְׁלֹמֹ֖הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010 √ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular
Shᵉlômôh: Shelomah, David's successor The king's name, not a priest's, is what dates the sanctuary. Gill records the tradition that in Solomon's reign the high-priesthood “was restored to Zadok, of the line of Eleazar,” after a stretch in the house of Ithamar: the same reign that raised the house reset the line that served in it.
√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
bânâh: to build Qal perfect, a finished act. Reader caution: the standard lexical association between bânâh (build) and bēn (son) is a general feature of Hebrew, not a claim that this verse plays on it. What the verse does do is set one built thing beside a long chain of begotten ones, and then date the begetting by the building.
בִּירוּשָׁלִָֽם׃bî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389 √ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular
Yᵉrûwshâlaim: the capital city The place-name that fixes the note in time twice over. By the time the Chronicler writes, Jerusalem stands again but the house named here does not, which is precisely why he has to say whose temple he means.