What Does 1 Chronicles 11:31 Mean in the King James?

Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah, that pertained to the children of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,

1 Chronicles 11:31 · 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

Benaiah means “Yah has built,” a name rooted in building that stands among names locating people in kinship and place.

THE MEANING

This verse holds identity in relationship: a father, a hometown, a people, and a name appear together. Benaiah’s name carries the image of being built by Yah, placing his life within a wider structure of belonging.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that a person’s identity is self-made and detached from the people and places that formed it.

THE ROOT

בְּנָיָהוּ

Benāyāhû

GROWS FROM

בנה

b-n-h

Build; establish.

Benaiah’s name means “Yah has built,” carrying the root ⁨בנה⁩ (bānāh, “to build”) inside a personal name. The verse places that built name beside “son” and “children,” so the person is named within a lineage rather than as an isolated figure.

ALSO GROWS

bānāh: To build; to establish.

בָּנָה

This verb gives the name its central image: Yah is the one who builds.

yivneh: He will build.

יִבְנֶה

The same root extends from what is built to the ongoing act of building.

mivneh: Structure; building.

מִבְנֶה

This branch names the formed structure, giving the root a shape that echoes the verse’s network of family and belonging.

THE PATTERN

Scripture places names within the relationships, people, and places that shape a person’s identity.

Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

1 Samuel 9:1 · KJVKish is named through his father, his ancestors, and his people.

And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.

Genesis 35:18 · KJVA child’s name is held within the family relationship that gives and reshapes it.

And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

Acts 4:36 · KJVJoses is located through a name’s meaning, a people, and a place.

THE THREAD

A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psalm 127:1 · KJV

Benaiah’s name is built on ⁨בנה⁩ (bānāh), “to build,” with Yah as its subject: “Yah has built.” Psalm 127:1 uses that same root for building a house, opening the name into an image of what holds a household together.

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