What Does 1 Chronicles 2:31 Mean?
And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; Ahlai.
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 Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi; Sheshan. And the children of Sheshan; Ahlai.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “sons” belongs to the word family for building: this family line takes shape one life at a time.
THE MEANING
Your life is held within a chain of lives, each name linked to what comes before and after. Here the line moves from Appaim to Ishi to Sheshan to Ahlai, giving each person a place in what continues.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an unremarkable life disappears from the story is unsettled here: every name remains linked to what follows.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
bĕnê
GROWS FROM
בנה
Build; build up.
The line says “sons,” but the Hebrew word belongs to the build and build-up word family. Descendants are more than the next names in a list: they are a family taking shape through linked lives.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son; descendant.
בֵּן
The names in this verse are joined as descendants in a continuing line.
banah: To build; to build up.
בָּנָה
This branch reveals the image beneath the genealogy: each generation contributes to the family taking shape.
mivneh: Structure; building.
מִבְנֶה
The line of names can be seen as a structure formed through successive connections.
THE PATTERN
A life is carried forward when names, teaching, and memory pass from one generation to the next.
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.And these things you heard from me among many witnesses, place beside steady people who will be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, the LORD has held me shut from bearing. Go in, I pray you, to my handmaid. Perhaps I may be built through her. And Abram heard and responded to the voice of Sarai.The Hebrew behind “obtain children” carries the sense “be built up through her,” from the same build word family connected with “sons” here. The language pictures descendants as a family being built through the lives linked in the line.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us