What Does Numbers 26:40 Mean in the King James?

And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites: and of Naaman, the family of the Naamites.

Numbers 26:40 · 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

Naaman’s name, linked to pleasantness, does not end with one person: it becomes the shared name of a family.

THE MEANING

This verse speaks to how a person’s name can continue within a larger belonging. Naaman’s name carries the sense of pleasantness, and the Naamites bear his name as a family designation; Ard’s name likewise passes into the Ardites. Individual names and collective identity appear side by side.

THE ROOT

נַעֲמָן

Naʿaman

GROWS FROM

נעם

n-ʿ-m

To be pleasant or delightful; pleasantness.

Naaman’s name is linked to the root for pleasantness, and the verse carries that name forward into “Naamites.” What begins as one person’s name becomes a shared family identity, preserving the root’s echo as the name travels.

ALSO GROWS

noʿam: Pleasantness, delight.

נֹעַם

Psalm 16:11 uses this form in the KJV phrase “pleasures for evermore,” echoing the root carried in Naaman’s name.

naʿim: Pleasant, delightful.

נָעִים

This related form makes the root’s quality clear: the name belongs to a word-family describing what is pleasant.

THE PATTERN

Scripture carries identity through named descent, as a person’s name enters the line that follows.

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Genesis 17:5 · KJVA name marks Abraham’s identity as it extends into the many nations named in the promise.

And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Ruth 4:17 · KJVObed’s name enters a line of descent that continues through Jesse to David.

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

Matthew 1:1 · KJVDavid and Abraham’s names identify the lineage from which the verse begins.

THE THREAD

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 16:11 · KJV

Naaman’s name is linked to ⁨נעם⁩ (n-ʿ-m), the root for pleasantness; Psalm 16:11 uses a form of that same root where the KJV says “pleasures.” The shared root lets the name that becomes a family designation echo elsewhere as delight.

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