What Does 1 Chronicles 8:40 Mean?
And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of strength, those who bend the bow, and they had many sons, and sons' sons, a hundred and fifty. All these are of the sons of Benjamin.
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 Ulam were mighty men of valour, archers, and had many sons, and sons’ sons, an hundred and fifty. All these are of the sons of Benjamin.THE KEY
The Hebrew calls these archers “treaders of the bow,” using the same root that gives “way”, strength here is a practiced path.
THE MEANING
Strength has a practiced shape here: the descendants are archers, and their household extends through sons and grandsons. Their number gives continuity a concrete measure, while Benjamin places their line within a larger kinship. The verse still holds ability and belonging together, with what is carried forward connected to lives beyond one person.
THE ROOT
דֹרְכֵי קֶשֶׁת
dorkhei qeshet
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
to tread, step, or press; in this phrase, to bend a bow
“those who bend the bow” in this verse is dorkhei qeshet. The verse names the archers with a participle from דרך: literally, “treaders of the bow,” those who bend and set it. The same root forms דֶּרֶךְ (derekh), “way” or “path,” so the language of skilled action also carries the sense of a course one walks.
ALSO GROWS
darakh: to tread, step, or press
דָּרַךְ
The verb names the physical action at the root of the word for these archers.
derekh: way, path, or course
דֶּרֶךְ
The same root connects trained action with a path that is followed.
גִּבּוֹרֵי
gibborey
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
to be strong or prevail
The word for “mighty” grows from the same root as “prevail” or “be strong.” It describes capacity to overcome, giving the verse’s strength a living, active sense rather than making it only a title.
ALSO GROWS
gavar: to prevail or be strong
גָּבַר
This verb reveals the active force carried by the word translated “mighty.”
gibbor: a mighty one or warrior
גִּבּוֹר
This related form names the person who embodies that strength.
בָּנִים
banim
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
to build
The Hebrew word for sons is related to the verb “build” and the noun “building.” That connection lets “sons and sons’ sons” carry the sense of a household taking shape across generations, not only a headcount.
ALSO GROWS
banah: to build
בָּנָה
The verb shares the root associated with the Hebrew word for sons.
binyan: building or structure
בִּנְיָן
This noun makes the building connection explicit and echoes the continuity of a family line.
THE PATTERN
Capacity is embodied in skill and carried forward through people.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth.And these things you heard from me among many witnesses, place beside steady people who will be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he grows old, he does not turn aside from it.The archers are named with דֹרְכֵי, from דרך, the same root that forms דֶּרֶךְ (derekh), “way.” Proverbs uses that word for the path a child is trained in, linking practiced bow-skill and the shaping of a life through one shared root.
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