What Does 1 Chronicles 1:39 Mean?
And the sons of Lotan, Hori, and Homam. And Lotan's sister was Timna.
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
And the sons of Lotan; Hori, and Homam: and Timna was Lotan’s sister.THE KEY
Timna is not outside Lotan’s family line: the verse gives her a place in its family map by naming her as his sister.
THE MEANING
The verse holds this family in view through named relationships: Lotan’s sons are named, and Timna is named as his sister. Her place in the family record is explicit, even though the line begins with the sons.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse undoes the claim that the family record names only male kin: Timna is named as Lotan’s sister.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
bənê
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
Build, build up; the noun for son is traditionally associated with this root.
The word for sons carries an association with building: lineage is pictured as a household carried forward in people. The verse then names Timna through her sibling relation, giving the family map more than one kind of connection.
ALSO GROWS
banah: To build, build up.
בָּנָה
This verbal form makes the building association in the family word visible.
binyan: Building, structure.
בִּנְיָן
This noun from the same root echoes the household structure carried through a lineage.
תִּמְנָע
Timna
GROWS FROM
מנע
manaʿ
Withhold, restrain; Timna’s name is commonly associated with this root.
The name carries a possible shade of restraint that its English transliteration does not show. The verse itself identifies Timna by kinship, so this name-root connection adds an echo without assigning her a role or motive.
ALSO GROWS
manaʿ: To withhold, refrain.
מָנַע
This verb expresses the action associated with the name’s likely root.
yimnaʿ: He withholds.
יִמְנַע
This form shows the same root in an action, making the restraint association concrete.
THE PATTERN
Genealogies preserve identity by naming people and the relationships that place them within a family.
And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna.And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.Judah brought forth Perez and Zerah out of Tamar, and Perez brought forth Hezron, and Hezron brought forth Ram.THE THREAD
And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna.Genesis gives the parallel family notice with the same Hebrew בני (bənê), rendered “children” there and “sons” here. The shared wording keeps both the descendants and Timna’s sibling relation within the same family record.
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