What Does 1 Chronicles 4:31 Mean in the King James?

And at Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susim, and at Beth-birei, and at Shaaraim. These were their cities unto the reign of David.

1 Chronicles 4:31 · 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 names turn a list of towns into a map of movement and passage: chariots are housed, horses are enclosed, and two gates mark an opening.

THE MEANING

You encounter places through what they carry, contain, and open: chariots, horses, two gates. This list gathers movement and passage under a boundary of rule, ending at the reign of David.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A place is only a point on a map, with a name that says nothing about what it holds or how passage moves through it.

THE ROOT

שַׁעֲרָיִם

sha'arayim

GROWS FROM

שער

sha'ar

gate; an opening or threshold

Shaaraim means “two gates,” so the town’s name carries passage within it. English leaves that image inside the place-name; Hebrew makes the town itself a pair of openings.

ALSO GROWS

sha'ar: gate

שַׁעַר

The root word names the opening through which movement enters or leaves.

sho'er: gatekeeper

שׁוֹעֵר

The gatekeeper is named for attending the threshold, showing how the root connects an opening with the role formed around it.

מַרְכָּבוֹת

markavot

GROWS FROM

רכב

r-k-b

ride, mount, or be carried

Beth-marcaboth means “house of chariots.” The root holds both the vehicle and the act of riding, so the place is named around the movement it houses.

ALSO GROWS

rekhev: chariot or vehicle

רֶכֶב

This branch names the conveyance housed in Beth-marcaboth.

rokhev: rider; one who rides

רֹכֵב

The rider and the chariot share the same root of riding, joining what carries with the one carried.

מְלֹךְ

melokh

GROWS FROM

מלך

m-l-k

to rule or be king

“Reign” in this verse is melokh. The list’s boundary is given through the act of reigning. The same root names king, kingdom, and rule, gathering these distinct places within one governing order.

ALSO GROWS

melekh: king

מֶלֶךְ

The king is the person named by the same root that marks the verse’s boundary of rule.

mamlakhah: kingdom

מַמְלָכָה

The kingdom is the shared realm formed under that rule, widening the root from ruler to governed space.

THE PATTERN

Place-names preserve what defines a place by carrying its nature or defining image in the name.

And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

Genesis 28:19 · KJVBeth-el means “house of God,” so the place-name carries an image of what the place holds.

And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Genesis 32:2 · KJVMahanaim means “two camps,” preserving the place’s defining image in its name.

And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

Matthew 27:33 · KJVGolgotha is glossed as “a place of a skull,” making the place-name itself disclose its defining image.

THE THREAD

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

Psalm 24:7 · KJV

“Gates” here and the name Shaaraim come from the same Hebrew root, ⁨שער⁩ (sha’ar), meaning “gate.” Psalm 24 places a king at the threshold; 1 Chronicles names a town by its gates and ends its count at David’s reign, bringing passage and rule together.

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