1 Chronicles 4
The full text of 1 Chronicles 4 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.
2 Reaiah son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.
3 These were the sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi.
4 Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.
5 Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives: Helah and Naarah.
6 Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah.
7 The sons of Helah: Zereth, Zohar, and Ethnan.
8 Koz fathered Anub, Zobebah, and the clans of Aharhel son of Harum.
9 Jabez was more honored than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain."
10 Jabez called out to the God of Israel, saying, "Oh, that you would truly bless me and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it may not bring me pain!" And God granted what he asked.
11 Chelub the brother of Shuhah fathered Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.
12 Eshton fathered Beth-Rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-Nahash. These are the men of Recah.
13 The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel: Hathath.
14 Meonothai fathered Ophrah. Seraiah fathered Joab the father of Ge-Harashim, for they were craftsmen.
15 The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz.
16 The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.
17 The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. She conceived and bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.
18 His Judean wife bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. These were the sons of Bithiah daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married.
19 The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham: the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.
20 The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan, and Tilon. The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.
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,
22 and Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi-Lehem. These records are ancient.
23 They were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah; they lived there in the king's service.
24 The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul.
25 Shallum was his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son.
26 The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.
27 Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, and their entire clan did not multiply as much as the people of Judah.
28 They lived at Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-Shual,
29 Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,
30 Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,
31 Beth-Marcaboth, Hazar-Susim, Beth-Biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until the reign of David.
32 Their settlements were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan — five cities,
33 along with all their villages that surrounded these cities as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record.
34 Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,
35 Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah son of Seraiah son of Asiel,
36 Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,
37 Ziza son of Shiphi son of Allon son of Jedaiah son of Shimri son of Shemaiah —
38 these mentioned by name were leaders among their clans, and their ancestral houses increased greatly.
39 They went to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.
40 They found rich, good pasture, and the land was broad, peaceful, and quiet, for those who had lived there previously were from Ham.
41 These, recorded by name, came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and attacked their tents and the Meunim who were found there. They devoted them to destruction, as it remains to this day, and they settled in their place because there was pasture there for their flocks.
42 Some of them — five hundred men of the Simeonites — went to Mount Seir, with Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, sons of Ishi, as their leaders.
43 They struck down the remaining Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.
Translation notes (13)
- 1 Chronicles 4:4a The exact relationship of Hur to Ephrathah is unclear in the Hebrew, which literally states "Hur, firstborn of Ephrathah." This may indicate that Hur was Ephrathah's firstborn son or that Ephrathah was Hur's wife.
- 1 Chronicles 4:9a The name Ya'bets is connected to 'otzev, 'pain,' by a reversal of its consonants rather than by derivation. Hebrew naming often works by this kind of sound-play rather than by etymology.
- 1 Chronicles 4:10a This prayer interrupts an unbroken list of names and is one of the few places in the genealogies where anyone speaks. 'Enlarge my territory' is ordinary language for land and family in an agricultural society, and the Hebrew for 'keep me from harm' can be read either as being spared pain or as not causing it.
- 1 Chronicles 4:14a The Hebrew Ge-Harashim (גֵּי חֲרָשִׁים) literally means 'Valley of Craftsmen'.
- 1 Chronicles 4:17a The Hebrew pronoun 'she' lacks a clear antecedent in the Masoretic Text. The Septuagint and some Old Latin manuscripts supply a proper name, usually Bithiah.
- 1 Chronicles 4:18a Hebrew hayehudiyyah, 'the Judean woman', distinguishes Mered's Judahite wife from Bithiah, the Egyptian princess named at the end of the verse. The name bityah means 'daughter of Yah', a striking name for a daughter of Pharaoh, and may signal her adoption of Israel's God; later rabbinic tradition identified her with the princess who rescued Moses.
- 1 Chronicles 4:19a The Hebrew text literally reads, "the sons of the wife of Hodiah sister of Naham," which presents a difficult construction that may indicate Hodiah's wife was the sister of Naham, or that Hodiah himself was the sister of Naham, which is less likely as Hodiah is a masculine name.
- 1 Chronicles 4:22a The Hebrew ba'alu le-Moab, 'they ruled in Moab', can also mean 'they married into Moab', since the verb ba'al covers both mastery and marriage; the Vulgate and rabbinic tradition took it in the marital sense. Jashubi-Lehem is likewise obscure and is sometimes read as 'and returned to Bethlehem'. The closing remark, we-haddevarim 'attiqim, 'these records are ancient', concedes the tradition's antiquity.
- 1 Chronicles 4:23a Neta'im, 'plantings', and Gederah, 'wall' or 'hedge', may be read either as common nouns or as place names; the King James tradition rendered the phrase 'among plants and hedges', while most interpreters now take them as towns in Judah. The verse preserves a rare glimpse of hereditary craft guilds attached to the royal household.
- 1 Chronicles 4:27a The Chronicler's aside explains why Simeon's territory lay within Judah's allotment (Joshua 19:1,9). The tribe's failure to multiply also recalls Jacob's oracle that Simeon would be divided and scattered in Israel (Genesis 49:5-7), in contrast to the ascendancy promised to Judah.
- 1 Chronicles 4:31a The Hebrew עד־מלוך דויד, ad-meloḵ Daviḏ, literally 'until the reigning of David,' indicates that these cities were under the control of the Simeonite clans up to the point of David's reign, after which they were presumably lost.
- 1 Chronicles 4:39a The Masoretic Text reads Gedor (גְּדֹר), but the Septuagint reads Gerar, the pastoral region near Gaza known from the accounts of Abraham and Isaac. Since the Simeonites dwelt in the far south of Judah, some interpreters find Gerar the more likely destination, though this translation retains the Hebrew reading.
- 1 Chronicles 4:41a The Meunim (מְעוּנִים) were an ancient people group mentioned in various Old Testament contexts, often associated with desert regions or specific locations like Ma'an in modern Jordan.
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