What Does 1 Chronicles 6:42 Mean in the King James?
The son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei,
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” (בֵּן, ben) echoes בָּנָה (banah, “to build”), making this genealogy a line built across generations.
THE MEANING
You are held in a chain of relationships: what reaches you comes through lives before yours, and what you receive becomes part of what you carry forward. The names add their own texture, Shimei (שִׁמְעִי, Shimʿi, “hearing”), Zimmah (זִמָּה, zimmah, “design”), and Ethan (אֵיתָן, Eitan, “enduring”), while the repeated “son of” gives that continuity its form.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that your life begins wholly with itself: each person here is named through a relationship that precedes him.
THE ROOT
בֵּן
ben
GROWS FROM
בנה
build, build up
“son” in this verse is ben. The noun ben is linked with the verb banah, “to build.” Repeated three times, it makes the genealogy sound like a structure taking shape across generations.
ALSO GROWS
banah: build, build up
בָּנָה
This verb appears in the Hebrew expression for being built up through having children, connecting family continuity with building.
banim: sons, children
בָּנִים
The plural carries the family line forward, extending the building image beyond one generation.
שִׁמְעִי
Shimʿi
GROWS FROM
שמע
hear, listen
Shimei is linked with shamaʿ, “to hear,” and carries the sense of “hearing” or “heard.” The name brings the language of hearing into this chain of generations.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: hear, listen
שָׁמַע
The name rests on the same root as this act of hearing.
shemuʿah: report, thing heard
שְׁמוּעָה
The root can carry what is heard onward as a report, adding the sense of reception passed through a line.
זִמָּה
zimmah
GROWS FROM
זמם
devise, plan, form an intention
Zimmah carries the sense of a devised plan or intention; the root can describe a scheme, with its moral force shaped by context. Here the name marks a place in the lineage without telling a story about the person’s actions.
ALSO GROWS
zamam: devise, plan, plot
זָמַם
The verb exposes the act of forming an intention that is carried within the name.
mezimmah: plan, purpose, device
מְזִמָּה
This related noun shows how a formed intention can be carried as a plan, whether wise or harmful in context.
THE PATTERN
Identity is carried through named relationships, with each generation receiving a place in a line that continues.
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.THE THREAD
And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.The Hebrew phrase translated “obtain children” uses banah, “to build up,” for the hope of having children. That same word-family resonance sits inside ben, “son,” here, so the repeated genealogy reads as a line built across generations.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us