What Does 1 Chronicles 2:17 Mean in the King James?
And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite.
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
This genealogy roots Amasa’s ancestry in Ishmael, “God hears”, while Jether’s name carries the sense of what remains or abounds.
THE MEANING
A life is never only its visible starting point; it carries a line of names and remembered meanings with it. Here, Amasa is brought forth by Abigail and situated in a family line marked by Ishmael’s name: “God hears.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that ancestry is only a chain of labels loses its hold here: the names in this line carry meanings rooted in hearing and what remains.
THE ROOT
הַיִּשְׁמְעֵאלִי
ha-yishmeʿeli
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen.
“Ishmeelite” carries the name Ishmael, formed from the idea that God hears. The family identifier therefore holds a story of hearing inside what could otherwise read as a bare ancestry label.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
This is the verb-root within Ishmael’s name: God hears.
shemuʿah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch shows how the root extends from hearing itself to what is received by hearing.
יֶתֶר
Yeter
GROWS FROM
יתר
Remain, be left over, or exceed.
Jether’s name comes from the root for what remains or is more. As Amasa’s named father, he places that sense of remainder within the family line remembered here.
ALSO GROWS
yāṯar: Remain or be left over.
יָתַר
This verb gives Jether’s name its root sense of what persists.
yōter: More, beyond.
יוֹתֵר
This form carries the root toward abundance or what exceeds the measure.
יָלְדָה
yāledāh
GROWS FROM
ילד
Bear, bring forth, beget.
The verb translated “bare” shares its root with the word for generations. A genealogy is a sequence of lives brought forth, with each person joined to a name and a line.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
The child is the life brought forth by the verb in this verse.
toledot: Generations, begettings.
תּוֹלְדוֹת
This root names the unfolding generations that a genealogy records.
THE PATTERN
Birth and names carry a story forward through a family line.
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.THE THREAD
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.“Ishmeelite” carries Ishmael’s name, built from the Hebrew root שמע (shamaʿ), “hear.” Genesis ties that name to the LORD hearing affliction, so the family identifier in this verse carries that hearing-story forward.
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