What Does 1 Chronicles 9:14 Mean in the King James?
And of the Levites; Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;
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
“Levites” carries the Hebrew root for joining, so this genealogy names service within a chain of belonging.
THE MEANING
Your name is not presented as self-contained here: each “son of” holds one life in relation to another. The Levites’ name carries the language of joining, so belonging is part of what this line says about service.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that identity must be self-made and solitary: each person here is named through bonds that extend beyond him.
THE ROOT
חֲשֻׁב
Ḥashshuv
GROWS FROM
חשב
Ḥ-SH-B
Think, reckon, consider, or devise.
“Hasshub / Hashabiah” in this verse is Ḥashshuv. English presents two separate names, but both carry the root of considering: Hasshub can be heard as “considered,” while Hashabiah carries “Yah has considered.” That shared root makes consideration echo within the family line.
ALSO GROWS
ḥashav: Think, reckon, or devise.
חָשַׁב
This verb is the shared seed beneath both names.
maḥashavah: Thought or plan.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This related noun shows the root extending from considering into what is held in thought.
הַלְוִיִּם
ha-Leviyyim
GROWS FROM
לוה
L-W-H
Join or attach.
The name “Levites” carries the language of joining. The verse’s designation holds service inside belonging: a life joined to a people and to a line.
ALSO GROWS
lavah: Join or attach.
לָוָה
This verb is the root idea carried by the name Levite.
yillaveh: Will be joined.
יִלָּוֶה
This form appears in Leah’s words when she names Levi, making the joining audible in the name’s origin.
בֵּן
ben
GROWS FROM
בנה
B-N-H
Build or establish.
The repeated “son of” carries a word related to building: each person is placed within a structure that continues through generations. The line reads as connected lives being built forward, not as isolated names.
ALSO GROWS
banah: Build.
בָּנָה
This verb shares the root with ben, “son,” and gives the genealogy a sense of continuity being built.
binyan: Building or structure.
בִּנְיָן
This related noun makes visible the structure formed by the repeated relationships in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A name is held within a chain of relation, where what one generation carries continues in another.
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron,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 she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.Leah says her husband will be joined to her with יִלָּוֶה (yillaveh, “will be joined”), then names the child לֵוִי (Levi, “joined”). Here, הַלְוִיִּם (ha-Leviyyim, “the Levites”) still carries that joining within the lineage.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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