What Does 1 Chronicles 4:4 Mean in the King James?
And Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father of Beth-lehem.
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 family line is written in names that carry their own meanings: the face of God, help, and the house of bread.
THE MEANING
This verse places identity in relationship: a life is named through what comes from it and where that line takes shape. Penuel means “face of God,” Ezer means “help,” and Bethlehem means “house of bread,” so the family record carries presence, aid, and nourishment in its names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A family line is only a list of names with no living meaning.
THE ROOT
פְּנוּאֵל
Penu'el
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
Turn, face toward.
The name Penuel joins “face” with God, carrying the sense of facing or seeing God. English leaves it looking like a label; the Hebrew holds an orientation toward the divine within the name.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face, presence.
פָּנִים
This branch makes the face of Penuel explicit: the name carries presence, not just identity.
panah: Turn, face toward.
פָּנָה
The root links a face with the direction it turns, so Penuel’s name carries both presence and encounter.
עֵזֶר
Ezer
GROWS FROM
עזר
ʿ-z-r
Help, support.
Ezer sounds like a proper name in English, while its Hebrew also says “help.” The line places help itself among the names passed forward through the family.
ALSO GROWS
ʿazar: To help, support.
עָזַר
The verb shows the root as an action: help is something that reaches and supports.
ʿezrah: Aid, assistance.
עֶזְרָה
This noun carries the same root into the help that is present and available.
גְּדוֹר
Gedor
GROWS FROM
גדר
g-d-r
Enclose, fence in.
Gedor’s name carries the image of an enclosure or boundary. That meaning sits inside the family record as a place shaped by the idea of being bounded or held within limits.
ALSO GROWS
gader: Fence, wall.
גָּדֵר
The branch gives the name its image of a boundary that marks or holds a space.
gederah: Enclosure, fenced place.
גְּדֵרָה
This branch extends the same root into a bounded place, echoing Gedor’s place-name.
THE PATTERN
A name can carry the nature of a person or the meaning of an encounter within the line it identifies.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.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 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 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.Penuel in this lineage echoes Peniel, the name attached to seeing God face to face. Genesis makes the face within the name explicit, so one brief name carries a whole encounter.
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