What Does 1 Chronicles 8:38 Mean?
And Azel had six sons, whose names are these, Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.
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 Azel had six sons, whose names are these, Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.THE KEY
The list is more than a headcount: several names carry a testimony of God hearing, service, and favor.
THE MEANING
When you are seen as part of a larger whole, this verse keeps particular identity in view: each son is named. Ishmael means “God hears,” Obadiah means “servant of Yah,” and Hanan carries “he has shown favor.” The line holds distinct stories without flattening their bearers into a number.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that belonging to a family or community makes a person interchangeable; the verse names each son separately.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמָעֵאל
Yishmaʿel
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed.
“Ishmael” in this verse is Yishmaʿel. Yishmaʿel means “God hears.” English leaves the name opaque, while its Hebrew form keeps hearing visible as part of his identity.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: To hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
This is the verb carried in Ishmael’s name: hearing is part of what the name says.
shemuʿah: A report, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch makes the root’s movement from hearing to what is heard visible.
עֹבַדְיָה
ʿObadyah
GROWS FROM
עבד
Serve, work.
“Obadiah” in this verse is ʿObadyah. ʿObadyah means “servant of Yah.” The name ties identity to service, and its root holds both the person who serves and the work itself in one word family.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant.
עֶבֶד
This noun names the person whose identity Obadiah’s name expresses.
ʿavodah: Work, service.
עֲבֹדָה
This branch shows the action held alongside the identity of the servant.
חָנָן
Ḥanan
GROWS FROM
חנן
Show favor, be gracious.
Hanan carries the sense “he has shown favor.” Its root also gives words for favor and graciousness, preserving favor as a quality within the name.
ALSO GROWS
ḥen: Favor.
חֵן
This noun makes explicit the favor carried in Hanan’s name.
ḥannun: Gracious.
חַנּוּן
This related form describes the quality expressed by the root.
THE PATTERN
A name in Scripture can preserve the bearer’s nature or a divine action associated with them.
And the messenger of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son, and you will call his name Ishmael, God-hears; for the LORD has heard and responded to your bending low.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.To him the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hear and respond to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.THE THREAD
And the messenger of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son, and you will call his name Ishmael, God-hears; for the LORD has heard and responded to your bending low.Ishmael appears among Azel’s sons, and Genesis gives the meaning of that same name: “the LORD hath heard.” The Hebrew name יִשְׁמָעֵאל (Yishmaʿel, “God hears”) and “hath heard” share שׁמע (shamaʿ, “to hear”), so the list keeps hearing embedded in a person’s name.
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