What Does 1 Chronicles 7:2 Mean?
And the sons of Tola were Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' house, of Tola. They were mighty men of strength in their generations, and their number in the days of David was two and twenty thousand and six hundred.
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 Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father’s house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.THE KEY
The verse counts strength across generations, so its valiant ones appear as a lineage, not a lone hero.
THE MEANING
This verse lets you see strength as something carried by a family across generations, rather than as one person’s achievement. Tola’s sons are called valiant, and their 22,600 are counted in David’s days.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that strength belongs only to individuals: here, an entire family line is named as valiant.
THE ROOT
גִּבּוֹרֵי
gibborey
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
Prevail, be strong.
The word translated “valiant” belongs to the same root as words for prevailing strength and a mighty person. Here, that strength is named across a family line, not only in one celebrated figure.
ALSO GROWS
gavar: Prevail; be strong.
גָּבַר
This verb shows the root as a capacity to prevail, the force carried by the men called valiant.
gibbor: Mighty person; warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This form names the person in whom that prevailing strength is visible.
gevurah: Might; strength.
גְּבוּרָה
This branch names the strength itself, linking the household’s description to the capacity behind it.
תּוֹלְדֹתָם
toledotam
GROWS FROM
ילד
y-l-d
Bear, beget, bring forth.
The word for “generations” grows from the root of bearing and begetting. It makes the family’s strength part of a line brought forth over time, rather than an isolated moment.
ALSO GROWS
yalad: Bear; beget.
יָלַד
The verb shows the root’s basic movement of bringing forth, which gives “generations” its family-line sense.
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
This branch makes the generations concrete as children who carry the line forward.
toledot: Generations; descendants; origins.
תּוֹלְדוֹת
This form names the succession of births through which the household continues.
מִסְפָּר
mispar
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-p-r
Count, recount.
The root behind “number” also carries the sense of recounting and recording. The 22,600 are not a disconnected statistic: the count becomes part of the family’s tellable record.
ALSO GROWS
safar: Count; recount.
סָפַר
The verb shows the act behind the number: people are counted and their scale made visible.
sefer: Book; scroll; written record.
סֵפֶר
This related form connects counting with something preserved in a record.
sipper: Recount; tell.
סִפֵּר
This branch links the count to the telling of a family’s story.
THE PATTERN
Strength is visible within a people and takes meaning through the shared life they carry.
And Cush brought forth Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.And the messenger of the LORD let himself be seen by him, and said to him, The LORD is with you, you mighty man of strength.Now we who are strong owe it to carry the weaknesses of the powerless, and not to please ourselves.THE THREAD
And Cush brought forth Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.Genesis calls Nimrod a “mighty one” with a form from the same Hebrew root behind “valiant” here. The shared root names prevailing strength; there it belongs to one figure, while here it marks a counted family line.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us