What Does 1 Chronicles 27:18 Mean?
Over Judah, Elihu, one of David's brothers. Over Issachar, Omri son of Michael.
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
Of Judah, Elihu, one of the brethren of David: of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael:THE KEY
This roster makes identity a chain of meaning: a person belongs to a tribe, and a tribe carries a story inside its name.
THE MEANING
Your place among others is more than a label: names can hold praise, belovedness, and the language of recompense beneath a plain list. Judah’s leader is named as one of David’s kin, tying public role to belonging. Issachar’s name carries the language of hire or reward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse unsettles the idea that a name is only a label or that a role stands apart from the relationships that formed it.
THE ROOT
יְהוּדָה
Yehudah
GROWS FROM
ידה
To praise, give thanks, or acknowledge.
Judah’s name is linked to יָדָה, “to praise” or “give thanks.” The tribe’s name carries praise as part of its identity, not merely as a label on the roster.
ALSO GROWS
yādāh: Praise, give thanks, acknowledge.
יָדָה
This verb gives Judah’s name its sound and meaning, making praise part of the name-nature.
tōdāh: Thanksgiving or praise.
תּוֹדָה
The same root gives praise a voiced form: thanksgiving that can be expressed.
יִשָּׂשכָר
Yissachar
GROWS FROM
שׂכר
Hire, wages, or recompense; Issachar’s naming story connects the name with hire.
Issachar’s name is tied to שָׂכָר, “hire” or “wages,” in its naming story. The roster therefore carries the language of recompense within a tribal name.
ALSO GROWS
sākār: Hire, wages, reward.
שָׂכָר
This noun supplies the recompense language associated with Issachar’s name.
sāḵar: To hire or engage for wages.
שָׂכַר
The verb shows the action behind the wages: hiring, which gives the name’s association a living form.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved; the name David is associated with belovedness.
The verse identifies Elihu through kinship with David, whose name is linked with belovedness. That relationship makes belonging part of the roster’s account of who holds the role.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved one; also a close relative such as an uncle, depending on context.
דּוֹד
The word carries both affection and kinship, echoing the verse’s emphasis on David’s family.
dōdī: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
This form makes belovedness personal, resonating with the verse’s naming of a person through his relation to David.
THE PATTERN
Scripture lets names carry a nature or story that explains more than the person’s label.
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Now I will extend my hands to the LORD. Therefore she called his name Judah, Praise, and she stood from bearing.And Leah said, God has given me my wages, because I have given my maidservant to my husband. And she called his name Issachar, wages.And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.THE THREAD
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Now I will extend my hands to the LORD. Therefore she called his name Judah, Praise, and she stood from bearing.Judah’s name is explained through יָדָה (yādāh), “to praise.” So “of Judah” carries praise as the nature inside the tribal name, not merely as an address on the roster.
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