What Does 1 Chronicles 6:52 Mean?
Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, and Ahitub 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
Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son,THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “son” is traditionally linked to “build”: each person in this line is both kin and part of a structure carried forward.
THE MEANING
A life is not an isolated beginning: it stands in relation to those before it and carries the line onward. The repeated “his son” makes continuity visible, while each name keeps the person distinct.
THE ROOT
בֵּן
ben
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
To build or establish; ben, “son,” is traditionally connected with building up a family.
The repeated “his son” carries more than descent: it evokes a family being built through successive lives. English gives the relation, while the Hebrew link adds the image of a structure taking shape over time.
ALSO GROWS
banah: to build, establish
בָּנָה
This is the verb traditionally linked with ben; it brings the image of building into the repeated line of sons.
binyan: building, structure
בִּנְיָן
This related form makes the lineage legible as a structure carried forward through persons.
אֲמַרְיָהוּ
Amaryahu
GROWS FROM
אמר
amar
To say or speak; the name is commonly understood as “Yahweh has spoken.”
Amariah carries speech together with the divine name. In this chain, the names are not only labels: each can hold a compressed meaning that travels with the person.
ALSO GROWS
amar: to say, speak
אָמַר
This verb supplies the spoken element in the name’s common interpretation.
imrah: saying, utterance
אִמְרָה
This noun from the same root shows speech as something that can be carried and repeated.
אֲחִיטוּב
Aḥitub
GROWS FROM
טוב
tov
Good, pleasing; Ahitub is commonly understood as “brother of goodness.”
“Ahitub” in this verse is Aḥitub. The name holds goodness inside a relationship: “brother” and “good” are joined in one name. The verse’s chain of distinct names therefore carries more than sequence; each name brings its own meaning into the line.
ALSO GROWS
tov: good, pleasing
טוֹב
This is the element that gives Ahitub its association with goodness.
tuv: goodness
טוּב
This noun makes explicit the quality compressed into the name.
THE PATTERN
What is received moves onward through lives and relationships that carry it forward.
And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.So that the generation that follows might know them, the children yet to be born, who will rise and recount them to their children.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 Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.The Hebrew ben (בֵּן), “son,” is traditionally linked with banah (בָּנָה), “to build.” Genesis 5:3 places that son in a line of likeness, opening the genealogy as both relationship and continuity built through lives.
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