What Does 1 Chronicles 2:54 Mean in the King James?
The sons of Salma; Beth-lehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the house of Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites.
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 verse turns genealogy into a map of what a lineage builds, feeds, and crowns.
THE MEANING
Your identity is not an isolated label; it takes shape within households, kinship, and shared places. Salma’s line is named through a house of bread, crowns, and communities, so inheritance appears as something embodied and carried forward. The verse makes belonging concrete: people are bound into homes, provision, and places.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the claim that identity is self-made and disconnected: the verse places each community within a received line.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
bənê
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
Build, establish.
“sons” in this verse is bənê. The word for son, בֵּן (bēn, son), is linked to בָּנָה (bānāh, to build). The genealogy presents kinship as a structure carried forward, not a row of detached labels.
ALSO GROWS
bēn: Son.
בֵּן
The kinship word is linked to the language of building, so the sons name continuity taking shape in a household.
bānāh: To build, establish.
בָּנָה
The descendants and communities give that building a living form across a lineage.
בֵּית לֶחֶם
Bêt Leḥem
GROWS FROM
לחם
l-ḥ-m
Bread, food, in לֶחֶם (leḥem).
“Beth-lehem” in this verse is Bêt Leḥem. The name joins בֵּית (bêt, house) with לֶחֶם (leḥem, bread or food), placing a house of nourishment inside this family map. The same word appears in the bread set before God in the sanctuary, joining provision with a shared, set-apart place.
ALSO GROWS
leḥem: Bread, food.
לֶחֶם
Bethlehem’s name makes nourishment part of the lineage’s geography.
leḥem happānîm: Bread of the Presence.
לֶחֶם הַפָּנִים
This sanctuary bread carries the same word for bread into a shared place of presence.
עֲטָרוֹת
ʿAtārōt
GROWS FROM
עטר
ʿ-ṭ-r
Encircle, crown.
Ataroth means “crowns,” from the language of crowning. Beside the house of bread, this place-name preserves an image of dignity and honor within the lineage’s map.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāṭar: To crown, encircle.
עָטַר
The verb shows the action carried in the place-name: to crown or surround with honor.
ʿaṭārāh: Crown, diadem.
עֲטָרָה
The noun makes explicit the crown image hidden in Ataroth.
THE PATTERN
Scripture’s names carry the nature and future of the lives they name.
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.And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.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 Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.The Hebrew behind “obtain children” is אִבָּנֶה (ʾibbāneh, “be built”), from בנה (bānāh, “build”), the same root linked to בְּנֵי (bənê, “sons”) here. Salma’s descendants carry that image forward: a lineage is a household being built through its children.
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