What Does 1 Chronicles 1:44 Mean in the King James?

And when Bela was dead, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.

1 Chronicles 1:44 · 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

The Hebrew word for “reigned” shares its root with “king” and “kingdom,” joining ruler, rule, and realm as one word-family while the holder changes.

THE MEANING

A life can end while the place of rule passes to another; the holder and the position do not end at the same moment. The verse holds an ending and a continuation side by side, so one person’s departure does not mean the whole structure disappears.

THE ROOT

וַיִּמְלֹךְ

wayyimlōḵ

GROWS FROM

מ־ל־ך

m-l-k

To rule or reign as king.

The verb translated “reigned” and the noun “king” carry the same consonantal seed, and “kingdom” grows from it too. The holder changes, while the language keeps ruler, rule, and realm joined in one root-family.

ALSO GROWS

melek: King

מֶלֶךְ

The ruler and the act of ruling share the root heard in “reigned.”

mamlākāh: Kingdom

מַמְלָכָה

The realm belongs to the same word-family as the king and his reign.

THE PATTERN

A place of authority can remain while its holder changes.

And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 14:20 · KJVOne ruler’s life ends, and another takes the same place of rule.

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

Psalm 75:7 · KJVAuthority shifts as one holder is removed and another is set up.

But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

Matthew 2:22 · KJVThe place of rule passes from a father to another holder.

THE THREAD

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Daniel 2:21 · KJV

The Hebrew word for “kings” here, ⁨מַלְכִין⁩ (malkin), shares the root ⁨מ־ל־ך⁩ with “reigned” in the current verse. Daniel’s line makes explicit the repeated movement held in this brief succession: one ruler is removed, another is set up.

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