What Does 1 Chronicles 3:17 Mean?
And the sons of Jeconiah were Assir, and Salathiel his son.
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 Jeconiah; Assir, Salathiel his son,THE KEY
In this genealogy, “captive” and “I have asked God” stand beside each other while the father-son line continues.
THE MEANING
The line names captivity without making captivity the whole identity: beside Assir, Salathiel carries the meaning “I have asked God.” The words “his son” keep relationship and continuation visible in the same record, even where confinement is named.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that captivity erases a person’s belonging or place in a continuing line.
THE ROOT
אַסִּר
ʾassîr
GROWS FROM
אסר
Bind, tie up, restrain.
Assir means “captive” and may be read as a name or as a description of Jeconiah. The root holds together the act of binding and the person bound, so confinement is named without erasing the father-son relation that follows.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāsar: Bind, tie up.
אָסַר
The verb names the force of confinement carried in “captive.”
ʾāsîr: Prisoner, captive.
אָסִיר
This branch names the person living under the binding, making Assir’s label more than a bare name.
ʾāsûr: Bound; forbidden.
אָסוּר
The same root can describe both being bound and what is held back.
שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל
She’altiel
GROWS FROM
שאל
Ask, request.
“Salathiel” in this verse is She’altiel. Shealtiel carries the sense “I have asked God,” joining the root for asking with אֵל (ʾēl), “God.” Beside the name meaning “captive,” it places an appeal addressed to God within the same continuing line.
ALSO GROWS
sha’al: Ask, request.
שָׁאַל
This is the verb at the heart of Salathiel’s name.
she’elah: A question, request.
שְׁאֵלָה
The root also names what is asked, not only the act of asking.
Sha’ul: Asked for, requested.
שָׁאוּל
This name shares the asking root and shows how an appeal can become part of a person’s name.
יְכָנְיָה
Yekonyah
GROWS FROM
כון
Be firm, establish.
Jeconiah carries the name-nature “YHWH establishes.” Beside “captive,” it keeps the language of establishing present in the same line that bears confinement.
ALSO GROWS
konen: Establish, prepare.
כּוֹנֵן
This verb gives a direct form of the root’s sense of setting something firm.
makhon: A place, base, or foundation.
מָכוֹן
The root also describes what is established as a place to stand.
THE PATTERN
A condition of confinement or loss can be named without becoming the end of what continues.
After the carrying from their dwelling to Babylon, Jeconiah brought forth Shealtiel, and Shealtiel brought forth Zerubbabel.And the women who were her neighbors called out a name for him, saying, A son is born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.In this I bear ill, even unto bonds, as one who works ill; but the word of God is not bound.THE THREAD
When the days had come around, Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, the asked-for one, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.Salathiel contains the Hebrew root שאל (sha’al), “ask,” and Hannah’s words “I have asked” use that same root. The connection lets the name read as an appeal carried within the family line.
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