What Does 1 Chronicles 15:20 Mean?
And Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries on Alamoth.
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 Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries on Alamoth;THE KEY
“Alamoth” carries the image of maidens and may name a high register, so the verse’s music has a distinct human voice within it.
THE MEANING
The verse presents shared sound through named people, instruments, and a marked register. Zechariah means “Yah remembers,” while Alamoth means “maidens” and may designate a high register, though the musical instruction remains uncertain. Remembrance, human presence, and sound meet in the same line.
THE ROOT
עֲלָמוֹת
ʿAlāmōṯ
GROWS FROM
עלם
To conceal or hide; the proposed connection to youthful people is traditional but etymologically debated.
Alamoth points to maidens, and in this musical phrase it may mark a register or style associated with them; it is often understood as a high register. The connection to “hidden” is proposed rather than certain, so the maiden image is clearer than the technical musical direction.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalmāh: Young woman; maiden.
עַלְמָה
This singular is the word behind the plural Alamoth and supplies its direct human image.
ʿelem: Young man; youth.
עֶלֶם
This related youth term shows the age-related word family associated with Alamoth.
neʿelām: Hidden; concealed.
נֶעְלָם
It carries the concealment sense often proposed as the older image behind the youth terms.
זְכַרְיָה
Zekharyāh
GROWS FROM
זכר
Remember; recall.
Zechariah means “Yah remembers.” In this roll call of musicians, remembrance is carried in a person’s name as part of the shared sound.
ALSO GROWS
zāḵar: Remember; recall.
זָכַר
This verb supplies the core meaning in Zechariah’s name.
zikkārôn: Remembrance; memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
This branch shows how remembering becomes something held and kept.
בְּנָיָה
Bənāyāh
GROWS FROM
בנה
Build; establish.
Benaiah means “Yah has built.” Alongside Zechariah’s “Yah remembers,” the names in the verse carry meanings of remembrance and formation into the musical gathering.
ALSO GROWS
bānāh: Build; construct.
בָּנָה
This verb is the root that gives Benaiah its building sense.
mivneh: Structure; form.
מִבְנֶה
This branch shows building as an ordered form, echoing the verse’s gathered arrangement of people and instruments.
THE PATTERN
Shared praise takes shape through distinct people, instruments, and voices joined in one act.
Give thanks to the LORD with the harp, and pluck for him on the psaltery and the instrument of ten strings.Praise him with the thrust of the ram's horn; praise him with the harp and the lyre.Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and songs of breath, singing and plucking the strings in your heart to the Lord.THE THREAD
Give thanks to the LORD with the harp, and pluck for him on the psaltery and the instrument of ten strings.The Hebrew word for “psaltery” here is נֵבֶל (nevel), the same instrument word used in Psalm 33:2. That shared word connects these lyres to a recurring scriptural language of song and praise.
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