What Does 1 Chronicles 4:2 Mean in the King James?

And Reaiah the son of Shobal begat Jahath; and Jahath begat Ahumai, and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites.

1 Chronicles 4:2 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The repeated “begat” makes continuity the subject: this family appears as a chain of named lives.

THE MEANING

Each person is placed in a relationship: Reaiah is linked to Shobal, Jahath to Reaiah, and Ahumai and Lahad to Jahath; together they are named as the families of the Zorathites. The repeated begetting makes continuity visible through people and their connections.

THE ROOT

הוֹלִיד

holid

GROWS FROM

ילד

y-l-d

To bear, give birth, or beget.

The Hebrew verb comes from ⁨ילד⁩, the root of birth and begetting. English repeats “begat” as a genealogical formula; the root keeps the act of bringing forth audible in every link of the family line.

ALSO GROWS

yalad: To give birth or beget.

יָלַד

It is the basic verb beneath “begat,” making each named link an act of bringing forth.

yeled: Child or boy.

יֶלֶד

The child is another branch of the same birth-root, showing how the verb and the person brought forth belong to one word-family.

toledot: Generations or descendants.

תּוֹלְדוֹת

This word carries the same birth-root into the idea of a family’s unfolding generations.

רְאָיָה

Re'ayah

GROWS FROM

ראה

r-'-h

To see, look, or perceive.

Reaiah is commonly understood as “Yah has seen” or “vision of Yah.” The genealogy opens with a name carrying the language of seeing, then makes the line visible through named relationships.

ALSO GROWS

ra'ah: To see or perceive.

רָאָה

This is the seeing-root associated with Reaiah’s name.

mar'eh: A sight, appearance, or vision.

מַרְאֶה

This branch shows how the root of seeing can also name what is seen.

THE PATTERN

A line of generations becomes visible through named relationships and acts of begetting.

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Genesis 5:3 · KJVThe same birth-root traces a person’s continuation through a named child.

And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

Ruth 4:22 · KJVTwo successive acts of begetting carry a family line forward by name.

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

Matthew 1:2 · KJVThe repeated birth-verb turns a genealogy into a visible chain of relationships.

THE THREAD

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Genesis 5:3 · KJV

Genesis 5:3 uses the same ⁨ילד⁩ (yalad, “to give birth or beget”) root carried by “begat” here. There, the line continues through a son named Seth; here, it unfolds through Jahath, Ahumai, and Lahad into the families of the Zorathites.

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