What Does 1 Chronicles 9:44 Mean in the King James?
And Azel had six sons, whose names are these, Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan: these were the sons of Azel.
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 six names keep this family from becoming a mere count: each carries a meaning of its own.
THE MEANING
You meet this line as more than a count of six: names such as Ishmael (“God hears”), Obadiah (“servant of the LORD”), and Hanan (“favor shown”) carry meanings with them. What appears to be a bare roster becomes legible through the nature each name speaks.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse loosens the belief that a person’s name is only a label and a family line only a count.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמָעֵאל
Yišmāʿēl
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen.
The name יִשְׁמָעֵאל (Yišmāʿēl, Ishmael) means “God hears”: the name gives hearing a divine subject. The English name preserves the sound but hides the sentence it speaks.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
The verb names the hearing carried inside Ishmael’s name.
shemuʿah: Report, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is what reaches someone by hearing, extending the name’s root into received words.
חָנָן
Ḥānan
GROWS FROM
חנן
Show favor.
The name חָנָן (Ḥānan, Hanan) means “he has shown favor.” Its root presents favor as something given and received, not just an abstract quality.
ALSO GROWS
ḥen: Favor.
חֵן
This noun names the favor condensed in Hanan’s name.
teḥinnah: Plea for favor; supplication.
תְּחִנָּה
The root also appears in the language of seeking favor, showing its movement from giver to one who receives.
עֹבַדְיָה
ʿOvadyah
GROWS FROM
עבד
Serve, work.
The name עֹבַדְיָה (ʿOvadyah, Obadiah) means “servant of the LORD.” The root holds service and work together, so this name describes a nature through what it does.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant.
עֶבֶד
The noun gives the role spoken in Obadiah’s name.
ʿavodah: Service, labor.
עֲבֹדָה
The same root names the work carried out in service.
THE PATTERN
Scripture lets names carry the nature of the person who bears them.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.THE THREAD
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.Here a name changes as the person’s identity is named anew; in 1 Chronicles, the sons’ names likewise carry meanings beyond their place in the count. Together, the verses make a name feel like compressed nature rather than a bare label.
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