What Does 1 Chronicles 8:1 Mean in the King James?

Now Benjamin begat Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third,

1 Chronicles 8:1 · 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 root beneath “begat” also names children and generations, so this list presents a family line as one continuous act of bringing forth.

THE MEANING

Benjamin’s name means “son of the right hand,” and from him the verse names Bela as firstborn, then Ashbel and Aharah in order. The sequence holds distinct names within a life received through relation and carried forward through generations.

THE ROOT

הוֹלִיד

holid

GROWS FROM

ילד

yalad

to bear, beget, bring forth

English “begat” can sound like a single event, but ⁨ילד⁩ also gives the language for a child and for generations. These names are branches of the same act of bringing forth, carrying a family through time.

ALSO GROWS

yeled: child

יֶלֶד

The act of begetting gives rise to a child: the person named in the genealogy.

toledot: generations, genealogies

תּוֹלְדוֹת

The same root names the generations that extend from each act of begetting.

בְּכֹרוֹ

bekhoro

GROWS FROM

בכר

bakhar

to be firstborn, bring forth first

The root ⁨בכר⁩ links the firstborn with the first yield and the birthright. Bela is first in the sequence, so the verse joins birth order with the beginning of an inheritance.

ALSO GROWS

bekhorah: birthright, firstborn status

בְּכוֹרָה

Birth order can carry a place of inheritance, giving the firstborn’s position weight beyond sequence.

bikkurim: first fruits

בִּכּוּרִים

The first yield is the beginning of a harvest, echoing Bela’s place at the head of this line.

THE PATTERN

A life is named distinctly while belonging to a line carried through generations.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

Genesis 5:1 · KJVThe verse frames a human life within generations, just as this passage names sons within a family line.

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

Ruth 4:18 · KJVThe named generations make each person distinct while showing how one life gives rise to the next.

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

Matthew 1:1 · KJVThis opening names a person through the line of those who came before him.

THE THREAD

I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Psalm 2:7 · KJV

Psalm 2:7 uses ⁨ילד⁩ (yalad, to beget), the same root as “begat” here. The shared word opens the genealogy’s language of family relation onto a declaration of sonship.

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