What Does 1 Chronicles 9:9 Mean?
And their brethren, according to their generations, nine hundred and fifty and six. All these men were heads of the fathers to the house of their fathers.
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 their brethren, according to their generations, nine hundred and fifty and six. All these men were chief of the fathers in the house of their fathers.THE KEY
The word “generations” carries the sense of what has been brought forth, so this count holds a living lineage rather than a crowd of isolated names.
THE MEANING
You are part of a community whose life extends through households and generations; the count does not erase those ties. Its leaders are called “heads,” locating them within the family lines that carry the community forward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a person is only an isolated unit, with no living connection to those who came before or those who follow.
THE ROOT
לְתֹלְדוֹתָם
le-toledotam
GROWS FROM
ילד
y-l-d
Beget, bear, bring forth.
“Generations” translates תּוֹלְדוֹתָם (toledotam, their generations), a form built from ילד (yalad, beget or bear). The word holds a lineage as what has been brought forth, so the 956 are a number within continuing kinship.
ALSO GROWS
yalad: To beget or give birth.
יָלַד
The root makes the generations in this verse a line of lives brought forth.
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
A child is one link in the family line named by “generations.”
moledet: Kindred, birthplace, or native land.
מוֹלֶדֶת
This branch joins birth to the family and place from which a person comes.
רָאשִׁים
roshim
GROWS FROM
ראש
r-ʾ-sh
Head, top, foremost point.
English “chief” can sound like a title, but רָאשִׁים (roshim, heads) retains the concrete image of headship. The root ראש (rosh, head or top) also names what is foremost, picturing these leaders as the household’s leading point.
ALSO GROWS
rosh: Head, chief, or top.
רֹאשׁ
This is the singular behind the verse’s plural “heads,” preserving the bodily image inside “chiefs.”
rishon: First or foremost.
רִאשׁוֹן
The same word family links headship with the foremost place in a household.
reshit: Beginning or first part.
רֵאשִׁית
What is at the head can also mark a beginning, joining leadership with the household’s continuing line.
THE PATTERN
A people’s identity is carried forward through the households and generations that hold its members in continuity.
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.These are the heads of their fathers' houses. The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben.The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.THE THREAD
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.Both verses use תּוֹלְדוֹת (toledot, generations), from ילד (yalad, beget or bear). Genesis names a book of what is brought forth; Chronicles counts people within that same unfolding line.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us