What Does 1 Chronicles 26:9 Mean in the King James?
And Meshelemiah had sons and brethren, strong men, eighteen.
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
Here “strong” is חַיִל (chayil, strength and capacity), the same word that can name an army, wealth, or a woman’s valor, making strength a capacity shared across the family.
THE MEANING
Strength appears within kinship: sons and brothers are named together as people of capacity. The count of eighteen makes that strength concrete and collective, rather than leaving it as an abstract quality in one person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the idea that strength belongs only to a solitary hero: here it is shared among sons and brothers.
THE ROOT
חַיִל
chayil
GROWS FROM
חיל
ḥ-y-l
Force, strength, or capacity; the word can also name an army or wealth.
“strong” in this verse is chayil. English makes this sound like a trait of these men alone, while חַיִל (chayil, strength/capacity) carries a wider sense of force and resources. The same word can describe a host or a woman’s valor, so the strength here is a kind of capacity, not simply physical toughness.
ALSO GROWS
benei chayil: Sons of strength or valor; the phrase used here for the strong men.
בְּנֵי־חַיִל
The verse names capability among the sons and brothers as a shared quality.
eshet chayil: A woman of strength or valor, traditionally rendered “a virtuous woman.”
אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל
The same word names a woman’s strength, extending חַיִל beyond the verse’s group of men.
מְשֶׁלֶמְיָהוּ
Meshelemiah
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Be whole or complete; make good or repay.
The name Meshelemiah is understood as “Yahweh repays” or “Yahweh recompenses,” carrying the שׁלם (sh-l-m, wholeness and making good) root. English presents a name, while its Hebrew form keeps audible a link between wholeness and recompense.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness or peace.
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar branch shows the root’s sense of completeness.
shillem: Repaid or recompensed.
שִׁלֵּם
This branch reflects the making-good sense carried in Meshelemiah’s name.
THE PATTERN
Strength takes form within a connected people, where belonging and mutual support are part of the capacity.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.THE THREAD
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.The same חַיִל (chayil, strength/capacity) translated “strong” here appears in Proverbs’ “virtuous woman.” One word names the capacity of Meshelemiah’s sons and brothers and the strength of this woman, though English gives it different labels.
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