1 Chronicles 2
The full text of 1 Chronicles 2 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,
2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
3 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah — these three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanite woman. Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the eyes of the LORD, and he put him to death.
4 Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.
5 The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.
6 The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara — five in all.
7 The son of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel, who acted unfaithfully regarding the devoted things.
8 The son of Ethan: Azariah.
9 The sons born to Hezron: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai.
10 Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, leader of the descendants of Judah.
11 Nahshon fathered Salma, and Salma fathered Boaz.
12 Boaz fathered Obed, and Obed fathered Jesse.
13 Jesse fathered Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third,
14 Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,
15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh.
16 Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel — three.
17 Abigail bore Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.
18 Caleb son of Hezron fathered children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth. These were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.
19 When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.
20 Hur fathered Uri, and Uri fathered Bezalel.
21 Afterward, Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead. He married her when he was sixty years old, and she bore him Segub.
22 Segub fathered Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.
23 But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-Jair, along with Kenath and its surrounding villages — sixty towns. All these were descendants of Machir the father of Gilead.
24 After Hezron died in Caleb-Ephrathah, Abijah the wife of Hezron bore him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.
25 The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron: Ram the firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.
26 Jerahmeel had another wife whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.
27 The sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.
28 The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.
29 The name of Abishur's wife was Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid.
30 The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim. Seled died without sons.
31 The son of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Ahlai.
32 The sons of Jada, Shammai's brother: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died without sons.
33 The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.
34 Sheshan had no sons — only daughters. Sheshan had an Egyptian servant whose name was Jarha.
35 Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to Jarha his servant, and she bore him Attai.
36 Attai fathered Nathan, and Nathan fathered Zabad.
37 Zabad fathered Ephlal, and Ephlal fathered Obed.
38 Obed fathered Jehu, and Jehu fathered Azariah.
39 Azariah fathered Helez, and Helez fathered Eleasah.
40 Eleasah fathered Sismai, and Sismai fathered Shallum.
41 Shallum fathered Jekamiah, and Jekamiah fathered Elishama.
42 The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.
43 The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.
44 Shema fathered Raham the father of Jorkeam, and Rekem fathered Shammai.
45 The son of Shammai was Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth-Zur.
46 Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran fathered Gazez.
47 The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.
48 Maacah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah.
49 She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, and Sheva the father of Machbenah and the father of Gibea. And Caleb's daughter was Achsah.
50 These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-Jearim,
51 Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth-Gader.
52 Shobal the father of Kiriath-Jearim had sons: Haroeh, half of the Manahathites,
53 and the clans of Kiriath-Jearim: the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites. From these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites.
54 The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-Beth-Joab, half of the Manahathites, and the Zorites.
55 The clans of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.
Translation notes (12)
- 1 Chronicles 2:3a Hebrew bath-shua (בַּת־שׁוּעַ) may be read either as the proper name Bath-shua or as the phrase 'daughter of Shua'; Genesis 38:2 describes Judah's wife as the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, without giving her name. The Chronicler's account of Er's death condenses Genesis 38:7.
- 1 Chronicles 2:4a The chronicler condenses the account of Genesis 38, where Judah fathered these twins by his own daughter-in-law. Perets (פֶּרֶץ) means 'breach', recalling the birth narrative in which he broke out ahead of his brother. Through Perez the line runs to David, and Matthew's genealogy names both Tamar and Perez among the ancestors of Jesus.
- 1 Chronicles 2:6a The name Zimri appears here in the Masoretic Text, but a similar figure is called Zabdi in Joshua 7:1. Both names are attested in ancient Hebrew.
- 1 Chronicles 2:7a The man called Achan in Joshua 7 is spelled Achar here. The change matches the Hebrew verb 'akar, 'to trouble,' and the Valley of Achor where he was executed, turning the name itself into the verdict the verse pronounces.
- 1 Chronicles 2:15a The Chronicler counts David as Jesse's seventh son, whereas 1 Samuel 16:10-11 and 17:12 present him as the eighth. A common explanation is that one brother died without descendants and was therefore omitted from this genealogy; the Chronicler's placement of David seventh may also reflect the symbolic weight of that number.
- 1 Chronicles 2:17a In 2 Samuel 17:25 the Masoretic Text calls this man Yitra ha-Yisreeli, 'Ithra the Israelite', while the Chronicler names him Yeter ha-Yishmeeli, 'Jether the Ishmaelite'. Ithra and Jether are variant forms of one name, and some Septuagint manuscripts of Samuel likewise read 'Ishmaelite', suggesting the Chronicles reading preserves the original designation.
- 1 Chronicles 2:18a The Hebrew text can be understood to mean Jerioth was either another wife of Caleb or a daughter of Azubah. The Masoretic Text accentuation treats Jerioth as another wife.
- 1 Chronicles 2:21a The idiom ba' el, 'went in to', denotes marital union. Machir, son of Manasseh, is called the father of Gilead both as ancestor of the clan and as possessor of the territory (Numbers 26:29). This marriage links Judah's line to Manasseh, explaining how Jair, a descendant of Hezron of Judah, came to hold cities in Gilead east of the Jordan.
- 1 Chronicles 2:22a This verse specifies twenty-three cities, while Numbers 32:41 records Jair taking their villages, and Judges 10:4 notes thirty cities of Jair.
- 1 Chronicles 2:23a The place name Havvoth-Jair means literally 'the villages of Jair' (Hebrew chavvot Ya'ir), the settlements named in Numbers 32:41. Geshur and Aram were small Aramean states east of the Jordan, and the Chronicler here records their seizure of these Israelite towns in Gilead, a rare biblical notice of territory lost to Aramean expansion.
- 1 Chronicles 2:34a With no male heir, Sheshan continued his line by marrying a daughter to his eved ('servant'), whose sons would be reckoned to Sheshan's own house; the genealogy accordingly traces the family through Attai in the verses that follow. That descendants of an Egyptian servant stand within Judah's official lineage shows the genealogies could absorb foreigners into Israel's tribal structure.
- 1 Chronicles 2:55a This genealogical aside links the Kenites, the non-Israelite clan associated with Moses' father-in-law (Judges 1:16), to the house of Rechab, whose descendants appear in Jeremiah 35 as the Rechabites commended for their fidelity. Hebrew sopherim, 'scribes', may alternatively be a proper name, Sophrites; the translation follows the common reading as an occupational term.
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