What Does 1 Chronicles 7:23 Mean in the King James?

And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.

1 Chronicles 7:23 · 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

Beriah’s name closely echoes the phrase for calamity in his house, carrying the household’s trouble into the name spoken over the newborn.

THE MEANING

The verse holds a birth and a household’s calamity in the same moment. Beriah’s name echoes the phrase for what has gone wrong in the house, letting the event remain audible in the family story.

THE ROOT

בְּרָעָה

bᵊrāʿāh

GROWS FROM

רָעַע

to be bad or bring harm

“evil” in this verse is bᵊrāʿāh. The verse pairs the name ⁨בְּרִיעָה⁩ (Beriah) with ⁨בְּרָעָה⁩ (bᵊrāʿāh, calamity), creating a close sound echo. Here the word points to harm that has befallen the household, and that trouble becomes part of the name the family speaks.

ALSO GROWS

raʿ: bad, evil

רַע

This form names the condition of harm or badness within the root family.

rāʿāh: evil, trouble, calamity

רָעָה

This form gives the verse’s trouble the sense of calamity affecting the household.

hērēaʿ: to do harm, act wickedly

הֵרֵעַ

This verbal form shows the same root family describing harm in action as well as a condition.

THE PATTERN

A name can carry the event or purpose surrounding a birth into the word by which that life is known.

And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.

Genesis 35:18 · KJVRachel’s name for her son carries the grief surrounding his birth, and his father gives him another name.

And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.

1 Samuel 4:21 · KJVIchabod’s name gives voice to the loss surrounding his birth.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 · KJVThe announced name carries the child’s purpose for his people within the naming itself.

THE THREAD

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

2 Samuel 12:11 · KJV

The same Hebrew word ⁨רָעָה⁩ (rāʿāh, calamity) appears beside house language in both verses. Here calamity marks a child’s name; there, harm is described as rising from within a house.

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