1 Chronicles 4
BSASBThe chapter continues the family record of Judah, the tribe of David, and then turns to Simeon, whose towns lay inside Judah’s land. In the middle of the lists stands a short story about Jabez, whose prayer God answered. The chapter ends with Simeonite families who moved out to find pasture and room to live.
1 Chronicles 4:1
The chronicler returns to Judah and names five descendants. Perez matters most, since King David came through his line. Lists like this remind the reader that God’s promises ran through real families and real names across many generations.
BSA: Perez (“breach, breakthrough”): The name means a breaking through, a fitting start for the line that led to Israel’s great king.
See also: Genesis 38:29; Ruth 4:18-22.
1 Chronicles 4:2
This verse traces one branch of Judah’s family down to the Zorathites, people of the town of Zorah. Zorah lay in the lowlands west of Jerusalem. The record shows how a family became a clan and then a settled community with a place on the map.
1 Chronicles 4:3
These are the sons of Etam, with one sister named. Women are rarely listed in these records, so her name stands out. Etam is probably a family or town name, and the list shows how families and places were bound together.
BSA: sister (“biological or close relative”): The word marks her as a true member of the family line, which is why she is named.
1 Chronicles 4:4
Hur is called the father of Bethlehem. That means he was its founder or leading ancestor. The town’s name means house of bread. Centuries later Jesus, the bread of life, would be born in this small town.
BSA: Bethlehem (“house of bread, a place of nourishment”): The town’s name speaks of food and provision, which suits the one later born there.
Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם (Bêt Leḥem, H1035) — “house of bread.” The Hebrew name is plain and homely: a house, and bread. It points to ordinary daily provision from God.
See also: Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1.
1 Chronicles 4:5-6
Ashhur founded Tekoa, a hill town south of Bethlehem, and had two wives. The list gives the sons of Naarah first. Tekoa later produced wise people and the prophet Amos. Even a short list like this shows how towns grew from households.
1 Chronicles 4:7-8
These verses list the sons of Helah and some of their descendants. We know little about most of these men beyond their names. Yet each is recorded in God’s book, and Scripture leaves none of them forgotten.
1 Chronicles 4:9
In the middle of the lists, the writer stops to praise one man. Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, although his mother named him for her pain at his birth. A painful beginning did not decide his life.
BSA: honorable (“esteemed, respected”): Jabez was held in high regard, and the text says this was because of who he was, not what he owned. pain (“with sorrow, in distress”): His name carried his mother’s sorrow, so he grew up with a sad label.
Hebrew: נִכְבָּד (nikbad, H3513) — “weighty, honored.” The Hebrew word carries the sense of weight, a man of substance whom others respected.
See also: Genesis 35:18.
1 Chronicles 4:10
Jabez prayed to the God of Israel. He asked for blessing, more land, God’s hand with him and protection from harm. He turned his name’s sorrow into a prayer. The verse says simply that God granted his request.
BSA: bless (“bestow divine favor upon”): He asked for God’s favor itself, not just for good things to come his way. hand (“strength, power”): He wanted God’s own power with him, and did not trust his own strength.
Hebrew: וַיִּקְרָא (vayyiqrā, H7121) — “and he called out.” The word means to call aloud, to cry out to someone, which suggests earnestness more than a polite request.
See also: Ephesians 3:20; James 4:2.
1 Chronicles 4:11-12
The record goes on with Chelub’s line and the men of Recah. The names include Beth-rapha, which means house of healing, and Ir-nahash, city of the serpent. We know little more about them. The point is that families and their towns are still being remembered.
BSA: Beth-rapha (“house of healing”): The name means a house of healing, though the text tells us nothing more about the man.
1 Chronicles 4:13-14
Kenaz’s son Othniel is the same Othniel who became Israel’s first judge, a deliverer raised up by God. His family included a line of craftsmen, so the valley where they lived took its name from their skill. Ordinary work is honored here.
BSA: Othniel (“lion of God, a Judge of Israel”): He is the Othniel who delivered Israel in the days of the judges. craftsmen (“artificers, skilled workers”): Their skill was so well known that a whole valley was named after them.
Hebrew: חָרָשִׁים (ḥarāšîm, H2798) — “craftsmen.” The same word is used for skilled workers in wood, stone and metal, and it is the root of the name Ge-harashim, valley of craftsmen.
See also: Judges 3:9-11.
1 Chronicles 4:15
Caleb son of Jephunneh is the man who trusted God when the other spies feared. His family is listed with his sons, and a grandson named Kenaz. A faithful life leaves a family that carries his name forward.
BSA: Caleb (“a faithful Israelite”): He is remembered as a man who followed the Lord wholeheartedly.
See also: Joshua 14:6-14.
1 Chronicles 4:16
This verse lists the sons of Jehallelel, whose name means God is praised. Two of the names, Ziph and Ziphah, are linked to a district in Judah’s hill country. The list again links families to the land they settled.
1 Chronicles 4:17-18
Mered married Bithiah, who is called Pharaoh’s daughter, so an Egyptian woman is welcomed into Judah’s family. He also had a Judean wife. These verses are short and puzzling, but they show that outsiders could join God’s people.
BSA: Judean (“Judahite, from the tribe of Judah”): The text sets this wife beside Bithiah, so both an Egyptian and a Judahite contributed to the family.
1 Chronicles 4:19
This verse mentions the sons of Hodiah’s wife and ties them to the towns of Keilah and Eshtemoa. It is a tangled record, and some of the details are hard to follow. What is clear is that families gave rise to settled towns.
1 Chronicles 4:20
Two more family lines are listed: the sons of Shimon and the descendants of Ishi. These are plain records, kept so that people could trace their place in the tribe. Each name stands for someone who was known and counted.
BSA: Ishi (“meaning ‘He saves me’”): The name itself is a small confession that salvation comes from God.
1 Chronicles 4:21
Shelah was Judah’s son by a Canaanite wife. His descendants founded towns and worked in fine linen. The writer notices this because skilled trades were part of daily life in Judah.
BSA: linen workers (“those who wrought fine linen, skilled craftsmen”): The weavers made fine cloth, so a trade is listed as part of the family’s identity.
See also: Genesis 38:5.
1 Chronicles 4:22
Some of Shelah’s descendants ruled in Moab and returned to Jashubi-lehem. The writer adds that these facts come from ancient records. He is working from sources already old in his day, and he is passing along what he found.
BSA: ruled (“had dominion, were in charge”): These men held real authority, which may have come through marriage or service in Moab.
1 Chronicles 4:23
A group of potters lived at Netaim and Gederah and worked for the king. They made clay vessels used in daily life. Work done in the king’s service was honorable, and God notices ordinary labor.
BSA: potters (“craftsmen, makers of clay vessels”): Pottery was basic and useful work, and the Bible often uses the potter as a picture of God’s own shaping.
See also: Jeremiah 18:1-6.
1 Chronicles 4:24-26
The chronicler now turns to Simeon, whose land lay inside Judah’s. He lists Simeon’s sons and three generations down to Shimei. Simeon’s tribe had been told it would be scattered, and this list shows what became of it.
See also: Genesis 49:7; Joshua 19:1-9.
1 Chronicles 4:27
Shimei had a large family of sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers had few children. So Simeon never grew as large as Judah. The verse is honest that blessing did not fall equally on every branch.
BSA: numerous (“multiply or increase”): God’s old promise of increase was given to all Israel, but the tribes grew at different rates.
1 Chronicles 4:28-31
These are the towns where Simeon’s families lived, from Beersheba in the far south to Ziklag, which David later held. The list says they lived there until David’s reign. Their home was a real place, and God’s people were settled in it.
BSA: Beersheba (“well of the sevenfold oath”): The name recalls the oath-making of Abraham and Abimelech and ties Simeon to the oldest part of Israel’s story.
See also: Joshua 19:1-9; 1 Samuel 27:6.
1 Chronicles 4:32-33
Five more towns are named, with their nearby villages reaching as far as Baal. The verses then say these families kept a genealogical record. Careful record keeping was how they protected their inheritance and their identity.
BSA: villages (“small settlements, towns”): Around each main town were small farming settlements that depended on it.
Hebrew: הִתְיַחְשָׂם (hityaḥśām, H3187) — “their genealogical registration.” The word means being enrolled by family line. Having your name in the record meant you belonged.
1 Chronicles 4:34-37
These verses give a list of leaders in Simeon, each tied to his father and grandfather. Many of the names include a form of God’s name, such as Joel and Jehu. The families saw God’s name as part of who they were.
1 Chronicles 4:38
The men listed were heads of their clans, and their families grew greatly. A growing family needed more room. This sets up the move described next.
BSA: leaders (“princes, chiefs”): They held real responsibility for the clans under them. increased (“multiplied, broke forth”): The picture is of growth that bursts out and cannot be held in.
Hebrew: נְשִׂיאִים (nesî’îm, H5387) — “chiefs, those lifted up.” The word comes from a verb meaning to lift up. A chief was one raised up by his people to carry them.
1 Chronicles 4:39-40
Their growing flocks needed grass, so they went east of Gedor and found rich, wide pasture. The land was peaceful and quiet. The earlier people of the land were Hamites, so these Simeonites were moving into land already held.
BSA: peaceful (“quiet, still”): The land looked calm and unthreatened, which made it attractive to settlers.
Hebrew: רַחֲבַת יָדַיִם (raḥăbat yādayim, H7342) — “wide of hands.” This is how Hebrew says spacious. The land was wide enough that there was room for hands to work.
1 Chronicles 4:41
In King Hezekiah’s days the Simeonites attacked the Hamites and Meunites and took their dwellings. The land was put under the ban, which meant it was given over to destruction. Then they settled there, because the pasture was good. The text reports this as history, not as a model.
BSA: devoting them to destruction (“utterly destroying, dedicating to God”): The act was treated as given over to God, with nothing kept back for the conquerors.
See also: Joshua 6:17-21.
1 Chronicles 4:42-43
Five hundred Simeonites went to Mount Seir and struck down the Amalekites who had survived. Amalek was an old enemy of Israel. The record ends with these families living in the new land, and it says they were still there when this was written.
BSA: remnant (“what was left, survivors”): These were the last of the Amalekites, whom God had long ago said would be blotted out.
See also: Exodus 17:14-16; 1 Samuel 15:3.