What Does 1 Chronicles 27:19 Mean in the King James?

Of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah: of Naphtali, Jerimoth the son of Azriel:

1 Chronicles 27:19 · 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

This roster quietly carries a theology in its names: struggle has a place among the tribes, YHWH hears, and service is named in the lineage.

THE MEANING

These names keep speaking in the present: Naphtali bears the trace of wrestling, Ishmaiah says YHWH hears, and Obadiah names service to YHWH. The verse holds individual names within tribal belonging, so a people is remembered through both shared identity and the stories its members carry.

THE ROOT

נַפְתָּלִי

Naphtali

GROWS FROM

פתל

p-t-l

To twist, writhe, or wrestle.

Naphtali is more than a tribal label here: its name preserves the language of struggle. Rachel’s naming words in Genesis 30:8 make that struggle part of the tribe’s remembered identity.

ALSO GROWS

niftalti: I have wrestled.

נִפְתַּלְתִּי

Rachel uses this form when she names Naphtali, so the roster carries her struggle forward in the tribe’s name.

naphtulei: Wrestlings, as in “wrestlings of God.”

נַפְתּוּלֵי

This noun in Rachel’s naming statement shows the struggle is embedded in the name, not added to it later.

יִשְׁמַעְיָהוּ

Yishma‘yahu

GROWS FROM

שמע

sh-m-ʿ

To hear, listen, or heed.

Ishmaiah compresses a statement into a person’s name: YHWH hears. In a list of representatives, that claim sits in the people’s shared memory, not only in a private prayer.

ALSO GROWS

shamaʿ: To hear or listen.

שָׁמַע

This is the root carried in Ishmaiah’s name, making hearing its central claim.

Yishmaʿel: God hears.

יִשְׁמָעֵאל

This related name uses the same hearing root, showing how the root can become a personal assurance.

עֹבַדְיָהוּ

ʿOvad-yahu

GROWS FROM

עבד

ʿ-b-d

To work or serve; as a noun, service or servant.

Obadiah’s name joins the root of service with YHWH’s name, and the verse makes him Ishmaiah’s father. The names place “YHWH hears” beside “servant of YHWH,” letting them speak to one another.

ALSO GROWS

ʿavad: To serve or work.

עָבַד

This verb is the root beneath Obadiah’s name, giving the family name a sense of service.

ʿeved: Servant.

עֶבֶד

This noun shares the root and makes the service in the name concrete.

THE PATTERN

A biblical name can preserve the struggle, hope, or calling attached to the person who bears it.

And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

Genesis 30:8 · KJVRachel names the child in the language of wrestling, preserving struggle as part of a family story.

And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

Genesis 30:20 · KJVThe name is spoken alongside Leah’s hope of dwelling, so identity grows out of a word-laden moment.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 · KJVThe verse directly joins a given name with the work associated with its bearer.

THE THREAD

And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

Genesis 30:8 · KJV

Naphtali in this roster retains the same root as Rachel’s words for “wrestlings” and “I have wrestled.” A name born from struggle is carried here as a tribe and its named representative.

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