What Does 1 Chronicles 6:66 Mean?
And those left behind among the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their borders out of the tribe of Ephraim.
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 residue of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their coasts out of the tribe of Ephraim.THE KEY
The “residue” is still given a geography: what remains is named, located, and bounded.
THE MEANING
What remains is not automatically nameless or without place: the verse names the remaining families and locates their cities within Ephraim’s territory. Their boundary gives their dwelling a shape; it does not erase them from view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that whatever remains is forgotten or has no place. Here, the residue is still identified by family and located by city and boundary.
THE ROOT
הַנּוֹתָרִים
hanōṯārîm
GROWS FROM
יתר
yāṯar: to remain over, be left, or exceed
The word translated “residue” comes from a root for what remains over or is left. English can make residue sound like an anonymous leftover, but the verse names these remaining families and gives them a place.
ALSO GROWS
yōṯēr: more, or what is left over
יוֹתֵר
It shares the root’s sense of something remaining beyond what has gone.
yiṯrōn: surplus, gain, or advantage
יִתְרוֹן
This branch shows that what remains can be a retained portion, not simply an absence.
גְּבוּלָם
gĕvūlām
GROWS FROM
גבל
gābal: to bound or mark a limit
The KJV word “coasts” here carries the sense of borders or territory. The root brings the boundary into view: the families’ cities are placed within a defined land.
ALSO GROWS
gĕvūl: border, boundary, or territory
גְּבוּל
This is the noun in the verse; it locates the cities within a particular land.
gābal: to bound or border
גָּבַל
The verbal branch shows the boundary as an act of marking where a place begins and ends.
אֶפְרָיִם
ʾEfrayim
GROWS FROM
פרה
pārāh: to bear fruit or be fruitful
Ephraim’s name carries the image of fruitfulness beneath the place-name. The verse remains concrete: it locates the cities in Ephraim’s territory, while the name adds its own meaning to that location.
ALSO GROWS
pārāh: to bear fruit, be fruitful
פָּרָה
This root gives the name Ephraim its fruit-bearing sense.
pĕrî: fruit
פְּרִי
The related word makes the name’s image tangible: fruit is what the fruitful one bears.
THE PATTERN
What remains is still counted and given a defined place.
And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the residue of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim."Yet I have left seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not knelt to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him."So also now, in this present season, there is a remnant left behind, picked out by favor.THE THREAD
And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the residue of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.Joshua repeats the phrase “families of the children of Kohath ... which remained” and says they had “cities of their lot” in Ephraim. “Remained” and “residue” share the Hebrew root יָתַר (yāṯar, “remain over” or “be left”), showing the residue as families with a particular allotment.
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