What Does 1 Chronicles 1:46 Mean in the King James?
And when Husham was dead, Hadad the son of Bedad, which smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.
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 behind “in his stead” carries the sense “under, in place of”: one ruler dies, and another occupies the place he leaves.
THE MEANING
Rule continues when its holder dies: Hadad takes Husham’s place, and the record identifies him by the strike against Midian. Power changes hands while the violence named alongside it remains visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The throne and the ruler are not the same thing: Husham dies, but the reign continues under Hadad.
THE ROOT
תַּחְתָּיו
taḥtāv
GROWS FROM
תחת
taḥat
Under or beneath; also in the place of.
The phrase translated “in his stead” carries a spatial sense of being beneath or in place of someone. Succession is expressed as occupying the place left by the dead ruler.
ALSO GROWS
taḥat: Under, beneath; in place of.
תַּחַת
The same word holds both the spatial sense and the substitution in “in his stead.”
taḥtiyyim: Lower levels or stories.
תַּחְתִּיִּם
This related form keeps the root’s sense of what lies below, echoing the spatial language behind succession.
וַיִּמְלֹךְ
wayyimlōḵ
GROWS FROM
מלך
malakh
To be king or exercise rule.
“reigned” in this verse is wayyimlōḵ. The verb for reigning shares its root with the words for king and kingdom. Hebrew keeps the ruler, the act of ruling, and the realm in one word-family, so this change of ruler occurs within a continuing structure of power.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
The person who holds the rule is named from the same root as the act of reigning.
mamlākhāh: Kingdom or realm.
מַמְלָכָה
The domain of rule shares the root too, showing how a new ruler can inherit a structure larger than himself.
הַמַּכֶּה
hammakkeh
GROWS FROM
נכה
nāḵāh
To strike, smite, or defeat.
“smote” in this verse is hammakkeh. The Hebrew form describes Hadad as “the one who struck” Midian. The blow is not a detached detail: it becomes part of how the record identifies the ruler who takes Husham’s place.
ALSO GROWS
hikkāh: He struck or defeated.
הִכָּה
This verb form names the action attached to Hadad in the verse.
makkāh: A blow, stroke, or plague.
מַכָּה
The noun carries the same root of striking, keeping the force of the action audible in the word-family.
THE PATTERN
Rule survives the person who holds it: succession transfers the seat, while a governing force can also be pictured as reigning across generations.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.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:Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.THE THREAD
And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.The Hebrew תַּחַת (taḥat, “under; in place of”) appears in both “in his stead” and “instead of Abel.” Genesis uses it for a new child after Abel’s killing; Chronicles uses it for a new ruler after Husham’s death, letting one word join succession to replacement after loss.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us