What Does 1 Chronicles 11:31 Mean?
Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,
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
Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah, that pertained to the children of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,THE KEY
Benaiah means “Yah has built,” a name rooted in building that stands among names locating people in kinship and place.
THE MEANING
This verse holds identity in relationship: a father, a hometown, a people, and a name appear together. Benaiah’s name carries the image of being built by Yah, placing his life within a wider structure of belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a person’s identity is self-made and detached from the people and places that formed it.
THE ROOT
בְּנָיָהוּ
Benāyāhû
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
Build; establish.
Benaiah’s name means “Yah has built,” carrying the root בנה (bānāh, “to build”) inside a personal name. The verse places that built name beside “son” and “children,” so the person is named within a lineage rather than as an isolated figure.
ALSO GROWS
bānāh: To build; to establish.
בָּנָה
This verb gives the name its central image: Yah is the one who builds.
yivneh: He will build.
יִבְנֶה
The same root extends from what is built to the ongoing act of building.
mivneh: Structure; building.
מִבְנֶה
This branch names the formed structure, giving the root a shape that echoes the verse’s network of family and belonging.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places names within the relationships, people, and places that shape a person’s identity.
Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of strength.And it came to pass, as her living soul was going out, for she died, that she called his name Benoni, son of my bowing low. And his father called him Benjamin, son of the right hand.Joses, whom the sent ones called Barnabas, which is, being interpreted, son of comfort, a Levite and a Cypriot by birth,THE THREAD
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders toil in emptiness. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in emptiness.Benaiah’s name is built on בנה (bānāh), “to build,” with Yah as its subject: “Yah has built.” Psalm 127:1 uses that same root for building a house, opening the name into an image of what holds a household together.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us