What Does 1 Chronicles 6:36 Mean in the King James?

The son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah,

1 Chronicles 6:36 · 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

The repeated “son of” rests on a Hebrew word for son that shares its root with “build”: this line shows descent as a structure made of lives.

THE MEANING

You read four names in a chain: Elkanah (⁨אֶלְקָנָה⁩, Elqanah, “God has acquired”), Joel (⁨יוֹאֵל⁩, Yoel, “YHWH is God”), Azariah (⁨עֲזַרְיָה⁩, Azaryah, “YHWH has helped”), and Zephaniah (⁨צְפַנְיָה⁩, Tsephanyah, “YHWH has hidden”). Each arrives as “the son of” another, so identity here takes shape through relation, while each name carries its own testimony.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that identity begins alone meets a direct counterpoint here: every name arrives through a named relationship.

THE ROOT

בֵּן

ben

GROWS FROM

בנה

B-N-H

to build, establish

The word for son shares its root with the act of building. The repeated phrase “son of” therefore carries an image of a line being built and continued, not just a list of names.

ALSO GROWS

banah: to build, establish

בָּנָה

This verb shares the root that gives the word for son, linking descent with building.

binyan: building, structure

בִּנְיָן

This branch makes the architectural echo clear: each named relationship becomes part of a continuing structure.

עֲזַרְיָה

Azaryah

GROWS FROM

עזר

to help, support

Azariah means “YHWH has helped,” carrying help inside the name itself. In this lineage, a person’s name holds a testimony that travels along with the family link.

ALSO GROWS

ezer: help, aid

עֵזֶר

This noun gives the name’s root a concrete form: help is something that supports.

ezrah: help, assistance

עֶזְרָה

This branch preserves the same root meaning in another form, echoing the help named in Azariah.

אֶלְקָנָה

Elqanah

GROWS FROM

קנה

to acquire, possess; in some uses, to create

Elkanah joins El (⁨אֵל⁩, El, God) with qanah, a root of acquiring or creating. The name at the start of this verse’s chain carries its own testimony: God as the one who acquires or brings forth.

ALSO GROWS

qanah: to acquire, possess

קָנָה

This verb supplies the core action carried in Elkanah’s name.

miqneh: possession, property; livestock

מִקְנֶה

This noun shows how the root can name what is acquired or held.

THE PATTERN

A lineage becomes visible as each name is carried through a named relationship to the next.

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 · KJVA new name enters the line through a son, and the verse makes that relation explicit.

Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron,

Ruth 4:18 · KJVThe genealogy advances by naming one generation and the next.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 · KJVThe opening of Matthew carries identity through a chain of named relationships.

THE THREAD

And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Genesis 4:17 · KJV

The Hebrew word for “son,” ⁨בֵּן⁩ (ben, son), and the verb ⁨בָּנָה⁩ (banah, build) share the root ⁨בנה⁩ (B-N-H, build). Cain builds a city and names it after his son; that shared root lets the repeated “son of” here echo a structure built through generations.

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