What Does 1 Chronicles 5:7 Mean?
And his brothers, by the house of their fathers, when their generations were reckoned, were the head, Jeiel and Zechariah.
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 his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned, were the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,THE KEY
The word translated “chief” is rosh, “head”, so leadership is named within a family line made of generations of births.
THE MEANING
Your life belongs to generations rather than standing alone; the line is made visible through births, kinship, and names. Those called “chief” are named among their brethren, so leadership remains within the family it heads.
THE ROOT
תֹּלְדוֹת
toledot
GROWS FROM
ילד
yalad
To bear, beget, or bring forth.
“Generations” can sound like units of time, but toledot grows from yalad, “to bring forth.” The line is made of births: each generation is another bringing forth, so genealogy holds more than a sequence of dates.
ALSO GROWS
yalad: To bear, beget, bring forth.
יָלַד
The root names the act from which a line of generations is formed.
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
A lineage is composed of children and offspring, not an abstract count.
toledot: Generations, genealogies, or accounts of origins.
תּוֹלְדוֹת
This is the word used for “generations” in the verse, carrying the sense of lives brought forth.
הָרֹאשׁ
harosh
GROWS FROM
ראש
rosh
Head, top, or beginning.
The label “chief” is literally “the head.” Rosh connects leadership with the head or leading place within a line, keeping those named at its head inside the family record.
ALSO GROWS
rosh: Head, top, chief.
רֹאשׁ
This is the word translated “chief” here; leadership and headship share the same image.
reshit: Beginning, first, or first fruits.
רֵאשִׁית
The same root can name a beginning, linking the head of a line with its leading point.
rishon: First or former.
רִאשׁוֹן
This branch carries the sense of being first in position or sequence.
זְכַרְיָהוּ
Zekharyahu
GROWS FROM
זכר
zakar
To remember or call to mind.
Zechariah’s name joins zakar, “remember,” with Yah: “Yah remembers.” In a genealogy that records generations and names its heads, remembrance is carried in the name of a person within the line.
ALSO GROWS
zakar: To remember or call to mind.
זָכַר
This is the root within Zechariah’s name, giving the name its sense of remembrance.
zikkaron: Remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
A written record of names preserves people in remembrance across generations.
zekher: Remembrance or memory.
זֵכֶר
This related form echoes the verse’s act of keeping a family line identifiable.
THE PATTERN
A lineage becomes visible when births are traced and those who stand at its head are named.
This is the book of the births of Adam. In the day that God created the ground-being, in the likeness of God he made him.Now these are the births of Perez. Perez brought forth Hezron.The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.THE THREAD
This is the book of the births of Adam. In the day that God created the ground-being, in the likeness of God he made him.Both verses use toledot, the word for generations, rooted in yalad, “to bring forth.” Genesis names the generations of Adam; 1 Chronicles traces a family within that same human line, naming its heads among their brethren.
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