What Does 1 Chronicles 1:4 Mean in the King James?

Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

1 Chronicles 1:4 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Noah’s name carries rest, but here rest is not an ending: it unfolds into three named branches.

THE MEANING

This line holds Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth together as distinct people in a continuing human family. You encounter continuity carried through particular names, rather than an anonymous mass.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that survival leaves a family anonymous: the line continues through distinct, named people.

THE ROOT

נֹחַ

Nōaḥ

GROWS FROM

נוח

n-w-ḥ

Rest, settle, come to rest.

Noah’s name is associated with ⁨נוח⁩ (n-w-ḥ), meaning “rest” or “settle.” The line places that name at the head of a continuing family; even Shem (⁨שֵׁם⁩, Shem, “name”) makes naming itself visible in the verse.

ALSO GROWS

menūḥāh: Rest; resting place.

מְנוּחָה

This branch shows rest as a place where something can settle, echoing the name that heads the family line.

hēnîaḥ: Let rest; set down.

הֵנִיחַ

This causative form shows the root as the act of bringing something to rest, extending Noah’s name beyond a static label.

THE PATTERN

Scripture’s names can carry the nature or work that becomes visible in the story.

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Genesis 17:5 · KJVAbraham’s changed name carries the fatherhood that the verse declares.

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Exodus 3:14 · KJVThe name given here speaks of the nature of the one who sends Moses.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 · KJVThe verse connects Jesus’ name, Yeshua (⁨יֵשׁוּעַ⁩, Yēshūaʿ, “deliverance”), with the work of delivering his people.

THE THREAD

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

Genesis 8:4 · KJV

Noah (⁨נֹחַ⁩, Nōaḥ, “rest”) and “rested” here share the root ⁨נוח⁩ (n-w-ḥ), meaning “rest” or “settle.” The root lets the genealogy open onto the same movement: what is carried through instability comes to rest.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us