What Does 1 Chronicles 4:16 Mean?
And the sons of Jehaleleel were Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and Asareel.
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 Jehaleleel; Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and Asareel.THE KEY
Even this genealogy carries praise: Jehaleleel’s name is commonly understood as “God is praised,” before his sons are named.
THE MEANING
Jehaleleel’s name holds praise for God at the head of this family line, and the verse names four sons beneath it. The people who come after are not anonymous; they are held in names and relationships. Your life, too, sits among names inherited and names passed on.
THE ROOT
יְהַלֶּלְאֵל
Yəhalləlʾēl
GROWS FROM
הלל
To praise, celebrate, or boast.
Jehaleleel combines הָלַל (halal, praise) with אֵל (El, God); the name is commonly understood as “God is praised” or “praise of God.” The root places praise inside the family’s name, so it is present before the sons are listed.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: Praise or a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
The name’s praise-root also appears in words for spoken or sung praise, giving this bare list a voice beneath its names.
hallelu-yah: Praise Yah.
הַלְלוּיָהּ
The same root becomes a call to praise, linking the praise held in one name with praise voiced among a people.
THE PATTERN
What a people carries as its identity can become praise and knowledge passed 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.Remember the days of the ages; sift the years of generation upon generation. Ask your father, and he will show you; your bearded ones, and they will say to you.But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people made his own, so that you may tell out the excellences of the one who called you out of darkness into his wondrous light.THE THREAD
One generation shouts of your works to another, and sets forth your strong deeds.Both verses carry halal, the root of praise, and this verse shows praise moving from one generation to another. Jehaleleel’s name places that praise inside the genealogy before any son is named.
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