What Does 1 Chronicles 1:17 Mean?
The sons of Shem, Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech.THE KEY
The “sons” of Shem carry an echo of the Hebrew root for building: this genealogy presents identity as a line formed through named branches.
THE MEANING
Shem’s name, שֵׁם (shem, “name”), opens into particular names, so identity appears as something carried through relationship and descent. The Hebrew word for “sons,” בְּנֵי (bənê, “sons of”), is linked with בָּנָה (banah, “to build”), making the lineage feel like a structure whose branches remain visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The idea that a life is self-contained gives way here: each listed name stands within a line that came before it.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
bənê
GROWS FROM
בנה
to build, construct
“sons” in this verse is bənê. בְּנֵי (bənê) is the construct plural of בֵּן (ben, “son”), commonly linked with בָּנָה (banah, “to build”). The genealogy carries an architectural echo: the line is built through named branches, not presented as an anonymous crowd.
ALSO GROWS
ben: son; descendant
בֵּן
“Sons of Shem” names each descendant as a continuation of the line.
binyan: building; structure
בִּנְיָן
This branch makes the building image tangible: the lineage has a structure formed through its named branches.
THE PATTERN
A lineage becomes visible as one name branches into the next, keeping connection legible across generations.
The sons of Shem were Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.Who was the son of Cainan, who was the son of Arphaxad, who was the son of Sem, who was the son of Noe, who was the son of Lamech.THE THREAD
And the sons of Aram were Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.Genesis 10:23 gives Aram’s descendants their own branch, while this verse places them alongside the names in Shem’s line. Both use בְּנֵי (bənê, “sons of”), linked with בָּנָה (banah, “to build”), so the family line reads as a structure that branches without losing its connection.
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