1 Chronicles 1:27 — Word Study
WLCאַבְרָ֖ם ה֥וּא אַבְרָהָֽם׃ ס
BSAand AbramʼAbrâm [the original name, also called Abraham] (that ishûwʼ [or also known as, the same is] AbrahamʼAbrâhâm [the father of many nations, later name of Abram]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| אַבְרָ֖ם | Abram | Noun proper masculine |
| ה֥וּא | he | Pronoun |
| אַבְרָהָֽם׃ ס | [is] Abraham | Noun proper masculine |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | and Abram (that is, Abraham). |
| KJV | Abram; the same is Abraham. |
| ASV | Abram (the same is Abraham). |
| YLT | Abram — he [is] Abraham. |
| WEB | Abram (also called Abraham). |
| BBE | Abram (that is Abraham). |
Where they part company is in the phrasing of the identification of Abram as Abraham — see How Translations Differ.
The sentence is straightforward, with a clear identification of Abram as Abraham.
3 commentators on this verse
Jamieson, Ellicott, Cambridge & more — read them ›
clause
subjectהוּא
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — 1 Chronicles 1:27
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Genealogy of Abrahamgenerated
1 Chronicles 1:27 presents Abram as a key figure in the genealogical record, linking him to the broader narrative of the patriarchs. This verse serves to clarify that Abram is also known as Abraham, highlighting his importance as the father of many nations, which is further elaborated in the following verses.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 11:27–32 | This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. |
| 2 | Genesis 17:5 | No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. |
| 3 | Joshua 24:2 | And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods. |
| 4 | Nehemiah 9:7 | You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 4 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — אַבְרָם, 'av.Ramgenerated
The name אַבְרָם (Avram) means 'exalted father' and refers to the original name of Abraham. It is a proper noun in the masculine form, indicating a significant biblical figure first mentioned in Genesis 11:26. Abram was the son of Terah and is known for his covenant with God.
The transition from Abram to Abraham marks a pivotal moment in biblical history, as Abraham is recognized as the father of many nations. This change signifies a divine promise and transformation in his role within the narrative.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, which uses the phrase and Abram (that is, Abraham).
Sentence Structuregenerated
The verse consists of a main clause with the subject הוּא (he) and the predicate אַבְרָהָם (Abraham). The structure is straightforward, emphasizing the identity of Abram as Abraham.
The simplicity of the structure reflects the clarity of the genealogical statement, with the subject clearly identified and the predicate providing essential information about him.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates אַבְרָם as αβρααμ, maintaining the connection to the name Abraham. This choice indicates a direct equivalence, showing that the translators recognized the significance of both names in the biblical tradition.
The use of the same name in the Septuagint suggests a consistent understanding of Abram's identity across different language traditions.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
1 Chronicles 1:27 tells us that Abram is the same person as Abraham, a key figure in the Bible known for being the father of many nations. This verse helps clarify his identity in the genealogical context.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Abram means 'exalted father' and is the original name of Abraham, who is a significant figure in the Bible.
Abram is called Abraham after God changes his name to signify his role as the father of many nations, as stated in Genesis 17:5.
Abraham is a key patriarch in the Bible, known for his covenant with God and being the father of Isaac and Ishmael.
References to Abram and Abraham can be found in Genesis 11:26-32, Genesis 17:5, and throughout the book of Genesis.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- How does understanding Abram's identity as Abraham affect my view of the biblical narrative?
- What can I learn from Abram's faith and covenant with God?
- In what ways can I reflect the qualities of faith and obedience seen in Abraham's life?
- How does the transition from Abram to Abraham illustrate God's promises in my own life?
Commentators on this verse — 3 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on 1 Chronicles 1:27 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryEber, Peleg, Reu, of the Arabs in the present day.
Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Chronicles 1 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersTEN FROM SHEM TO ABRAHAM; AN OF Genesis 11:10-26, ALL NOTICES (1 Chronicles 1:24-27). Between Arphaxad aud Shelah the LXX., at Genesis 11:12, insert Καίναν = Heb. Kκnan (1 Chronicles 1:2, above). The name is not contained in our present Hebrew text of Genesis. Kenan may have been dropped originally, in order to make Abraham the tenth from Shem, as Noah is tenth from Adam. The artificial symmetry of these ancient lists is evidently designed. Comp. the thrice fourteen generations in the genealogy of our Lord (Matthew 1). 1 Chronicles 1:28-42 enumerate a second series of seventy tribes or peoples, derived from Abraham through the three representative names of Ishmael, Keturah, and Isaac; just…
Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 Chronicles 1 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges24–27. The Descent of Abraham from Shem These verses are compressed within the smallest limits from Genesis 11:10-26. For another example of this extreme compression compare 1 Chronicles 1:1-4.
Read Cambridge on 1 Chronicles 1 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
and Abram (that is, Abraham).
Abram (also called Abraham).
and Abram (that is, Abraham).
Abram (that is, Abraham).
Tyndale line
Abram; the same is Abraham.
Abram (the same is Abraham).
Abram (the same is Abraham).
Abram; the same is Abraham.
Abram, which is Abraham.
Strictly literal
Abram: the same is Abraham.
Abram — he [is] Abraham.
Abram—he [is] Abraham.
Abram, the same is Abraham.
Abram, who was Abraham.
From the Latin
Abram, this is Abraham.
Simplified
and Abram (also called Abraham).
Abram (that is Abraham).
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text reads אַבְרָ֖ם ה֥וּא אַבְרָהָֽם׃ ס, and the Septuagint aligns with this identification, confirming the relationship between Abram and Abraham without significant variation.
אַבְרָ֖ם ה֥וּא אַבְרָהָֽם׃ ס
1 of the 3 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in 1 Chronicles 1:27
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
אַבְרָם (Avram) means 'exalted father' and refers to the original name of Abraham. The entries indicate that Abram is a significant figure from the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned in Genesis 11:26, and he is the son of Terah and the husband of Sarah, among others. He is also the father of several notable sons, including Isaac and Ishmael.
אַבְרָם n.pr.m. (id., Thes al. exalted father) Abram = אַבְרָהָם Abraham
base
H87 אַבְרָם Abram = אַבְרָהָם Abraham
87 'Abram ab-rawm'
contracted from 48; high father; Abram, the original name of
Abraham:--Abram.
see HEBREW for 048
אַבְרָם (av.ram) — Abram.
A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.11.26;
son of: Terah (H8646);
brother of: Nahor (H5152H), Haran (H2039) and Sarah (H8283); married to Sarah (H8283), Hagar (H1904) and Keturah (H6989);
father of: Ishmael (H3458), Isaac (H3327), Zimran (H2175), Jokshan (H3370), Medan (H4091), Midian (H4080), Ishbak (H3435) and Shuah (H7744); also called Abram at Gen.11.26--17.5; 2x
Another name of av.ra.ham (אַבְרָהָם "Abraham" H0085)
§ Abram = "exalted father"
original name of Abraham
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
a'-bram. See ABRAHAM.
Abram
Exalted father. (see ABRAHAM.)
(a high father), the earlier name of Abraham.
High father, afterwards named Abraham.
הוּא (hu) is a third-person singular pronoun meaning he, she, or it, used for emphasis or when no verb is present. It can also refer to oneself or serve as a demonstrative pronoun. The word has various nuances, including resuming the subject with emphasis or expressing it unobtrusively. It can indicate 'that' or 'those' when used with the definite article.
הוּא m. הִיא f., pron. of the 3rd ps. sing. he, she, used also (in both genders) for the neuter it
an emph. he (she, it, they), sometimes equivalent to himself (herself, itself, themselves), or (esp. with the art.) that (those)
It resumes the subj. with emph.
Where, however, the pron. follows the pred., its position gives it the minimum of emphasis, and it expresses (or resumes) the subject as unobtrusively as possible
It anticipates (as it seems) the subject
As an emph. predicate, of God
In a neuter sense, that, it (of an action, occurrence, matte, etc.)
With the art.: so regularly when joined to a subst. defined itself by the art.
base
H1931 הוּא, הִיא he, she, used also (in both genders) for the neuter it . an emph. he (she, it, they), sometimes equivalent to himself (herself, itself, themselves), or (esp. with the art.) that (those)
. It resumes the subj. with emph.
. Where, however, the pron. follows the pred., its position gives it the minimum of emphasis, and it expresses (or resumes) the subject as unobtrusively as possible
. It anticipates (as it seems) the subject
. As an emph. predicate, of God
. In a neuter sense, that, it (of an action, occurrence, matte, etc.)
. With the art.: so regularly when joined to a subst. defined itself by the art.
1931 huw' hoo
of which the feminine (beyond the Pentateuch) is hiyw {he}; a
primitive word, the third person pronoun singular, he (she or
it); only expressed when emphatic or without a verb; also
(intensively) self, or (especially with the article) the same;
sometimes (as demonstrative) this or that; occasionally
(instead of copula) as or are:--he, as for her, him(-self),
it, the same, she (herself), such, that (...it), these, they,
this, those, which (is), who.
הוּא (hu) — he/she/it.
pron 3p s
1) he, she, it
1a) himself (with emphasis)
1b) resuming subj with emphasis
1c) (with minimum emphasis following predicate)
1d) (anticipating subj)
1e) (emphasising predicate)
1f) that, it (neuter) demons pron
2) that (with article)
Pron — PronounHPp3ms
ha: The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; transliterated in this Encyclopedia as "h." It came also to be used for the number 5. For name, etc., see ALPHABET.
The Hebrew word אַבְרָם (*Abram*) refers to the biblical figure later known as אַבְרָהָם (*Abraham*), meaning 'father of a multitude.' He is first mentioned in Genesis 11:26 as the son of Terah and is notable for being the patriarch of the Hebrew nation through God's covenant. The name reflects his role as a significant ancestor.
אַבְרָם n.pr.m. (id., Thes al. exalted father) Abram = אַבְרָהָם Abraham
base
H85 אַבְרָם Abram = אַבְרָהָם Abraham
85 'Abraham ab-raw-hawm'
contracted from 1 and an unused root (probably meaning to be
populous); father of a multitude; Abraham, the later name of
Abram:--Abraham.
see HEBREW for 01
אַבְרָהָם (av.ra.ham) — Abraham.
A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.11.26;
son of: Terah (H8646);
brother of: Nahor (H5152H), Haran (H2039) and Sarah (H8283); married to Sarah (H8283), Hagar (H1904) and Keturah (H6989);
father of: Ishmael (H3458), Isaac (H3327), Zimran (H2175), Jokshan (H3370), Medan (H4091), Midian (H4080), Ishbak (H3435) and Shuah (H7744); also called Abram at Gen.11.26--17.5; 2x
§ Abraham = "father of a multitude" or "chief of multitude"
friend of God and founder of Hebrew nation via God's elective covenant
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
a'-bra-ham:
I. NAME 1. Various Forms 2. Etymology 3. Association II. KINDRED III. CAREER 1. Period of Wandering 2. Period of Residence at Hebron 3. Period of Residence in the Negeb IV. CONDITIONS OF LIFE 1. Economic Conditions 2. Social Conditions 3. Political Conditions 4. Cultural Conditions V. CHARACTER 1. Religious Beliefs 2. Morality 3. Personal Traits VI. SIGNIFICANCE IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION 1. In the Old Testament 2. In the New Testament 3. In Jewish Tradition 4. In the Koran VII. INTERPRETATIONS OF THE STORY OTHER THAN HISTORICAL 1. The Allegorical Interpretation 2. The Personification Theory 3. The Mythical Theory 4. The "Saga" Theory
I. Name.
1. Various Forms:
In the Old Testament, when applied, to the patriarch, the name appears as 'abhram, up to Ge 17:5; thereafter always as 'abhraham. Two other persons are named 'abhiram.…
Abraham
Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred in his native country of Chaldea. He then, with his father and his family and household, quitted the city of Ur, in which he had hitherto dwelt, and went some 300 miles north to Haran, where he abode fifteen years. The cause of his migration was a call from God (Acts 7:2-4). There is no mention of this first call in the Old Testament; it is implied, however, in Gen. 12. While they tarried at Haran, Terah died at the age of 205 years. Abram now received a second and more definite call, accompanied by a promise from God (Gen.…
(father of a multitude) was the son of Terah, and founder of the great Hebrew nation. (B.C. 1996-1822.) His family, a branch of the descendants of Shem, was settled in Ur of the Chaldees, beyond the Euphrates, where Abraham was born. Terah had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died before his father in Ur of the Chaldees, leaving a son, Lot; and Terah, taking with him Abram, with Sarai his wife and his grandson Lot, emigrated to Haran in Mesopotamia, where he died. On the death of his father, Abram, then in the 75th year of his age, with Sarai and Lot, pursued his course to the land of Canaan, whither he was directed by divine command, (Genesis 12:5) when he received the general promise that he should become the founder of a great nation, and that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him. He passed through the…
Father of a multitude, Ge 17:4,5; the great founder of the Jewish nation. He was a son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, and born in Ur, a city of Chaldea, A.M. 2008, B. C. 1996, Ge 11:27,28. Here he lived seventy years, when at the call of God he left his idolatrous kindred, and removed to Haran, in Mesopotamia, Ac 7:2-4, accompanied by his father, his wife Sarai, his brother Nahor, and his nephew Lot. A few years after, having buried his father, he again removed at the call of God, with his wife and nephew, and entered the land of promise as a nomad or wandering shepherd. Sojourning for a time at Shechem, he built here, as was his custom, an alter to the Lord, who appeared to him, and promised that land to his seed. Removing…