What Does 1 Chronicles 8:18 Mean?
And Ishmerai, and Jezliah, and Jobab, the sons of Elpaal.
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
Ishmerai also, and Jezliah, and Jobab, the sons of Elpaal;THE KEY
The father’s name means “God has acted,” so this genealogy carries an act inside what English sees as a label.
THE MEANING
Names do not arrive empty here: Ishmerai, Jezliah, and Jobab are named as Elpaal’s sons, and Elpaal carries the sense “God has acted.” The line lets descent and a confession of action sit together, so a family record carries meaning as well as relation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A name is only a label and a genealogy only a roll of names; Elpaal’s name carries “God has acted” inside this family line.
THE ROOT
אֶלְפָּעַל
ʾElpaʿal
GROWS FROM
פעל
To do, act, or work.
In English, Elpaal can pass as an opaque label, but its components preserve a short confession: El (אֵל, ʾEl) means “God,” and paʿal (פָּעַל, paʿal) means “act” or “work.” This root also forms words for a worker and for work itself, so a personal name can carry an act in its own structure.
ALSO GROWS
poʿel: One who acts; a worker.
פֹּעֵל
This form names an agent of action, showing that the root inside Elpaal concerns doing, not an arbitrary sound.
peʿullah: Work, deed, or recompense.
פְּעֻלָּה
Isaiah 40:10 uses this noun for “his work,” connecting the action in Elpaal’s name to a deed.
THE PATTERN
Scripture lets a name carry a truth about a person’s nature or calling.
And Adam called his wife's name, the living one, Eve; because she was the mother of all living.No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.THE THREAD
Look, Lord LORD comes with a strong hand, and his arm rules for him. Look, his wages are with him, and his work goes before him.Isaiah’s “work” is פְּעֻלָּה (peʿullah, work or deed), built from the same root פעל (paʿal, do or act) held in Elpaal’s name. English leaves Elpaal opaque while translating its root-built cousin as “work.”
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