What Does 1 Chronicles 7:38 Mean?

And the sons of Jether were Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.

1 Chronicles 7:38 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.

THE KEY

Jether’s name is linked with what remains or exceeds, and this verse keeps three names visible in the line.

THE MEANING

This verse places Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara within Jether’s family line. Even without a story for each name, their place in the line is preserved. Continuity takes shape here through the act of naming.

THE ROOT

יֶתֶר

Yether

GROWS FROM

יתר

y-t-r

Remain over, be left, or exceed.

Jether is linked with the Hebrew family of words for what remains or is in surplus. That sense echoes the verse’s act of keeping these three names in the line, though the name’s presence alone does not prove the verse intends a wordplay.

ALSO GROWS

yāṯar: Remain over, be left, or have a surplus.

יָתַר

This verb gives the root’s basic sense of what is left or remains.

yitrôn: Advantage, gain, or profit.

יִתְרוֹן

This branch shows the root extending from what remains to what is gained or has value.

יְפֻנֶּה

Yefunneh

GROWS FROM

פנה

p-n-h

Turn, turn toward, or face.

Jephunneh’s name is commonly connected with ⁨פנה⁩, the root for turning or facing. The word family holds movement toward something and the face together, giving the name a sense of orientation beyond a label.

ALSO GROWS

pānāh: Turn or turn toward.

פָּנָה

This verb makes the name’s association with direction and turning audible.

pānīm: Face or presence.

פָּנִים

This related word connects turning toward something with the face that meets it.

THE PATTERN

A family line preserves continuity by naming people within the generations that connect them.

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.

Genesis 5:1 · SDVThe verse opens a record of generations, making the family line itself visible.

Now these are the births of Perez. Perez brought forth Hezron.

Ruth 4:18 · SDVA lineage advances through named people, one generation connected to the next.

The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 · SDVThe verse identifies a person through a chain of named ancestors.

THE THREAD

What remains to a man from all the toil that he toils under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:3 · SDV

The Hebrew word translated “profit” is ⁨יִתְרוֹן⁩ (yitrôn), from the same root family associated with Jether: what remains, advantage, or gain. This connection opens the name into a wider word family while the genealogy keeps Jether present in the line.

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