1 Chronicles 7

The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron. There were four of them.

1Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimrom, four.

NoteIssachar was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, each named for a son (or in two cases a grandson) of Jacob. Throughout this chapter "sons of" usually means "descendants of," covering many generations rather than one family of children, and the lists move between individuals, clans and whole districts without saying which is which.

2The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel. They were the leaders of their family lines, that is, of Tola's line. They were strong fighting men in their day. In the time of King David, their number was 22,600.

2And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father’s house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.

NoteThe phrase behind "strong fighting men" (Hebrew gibborey hayil) is standard in muster lists. It means men of standing liable for military service, and can carry a sense of property and social weight as well as prowess in battle. The figures that follow are census totals of the kind described in 2 Samuel 24, counting men available to fight rather than total population.

3The son of Uzzi was Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah. All five of them were leaders.

3And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief men.

4Besides these men, their family records list 36,000 troops ready for war, because they had many wives and sons.

4And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, were bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand men: for they had many wives and sons.

NoteMore wives meant more sons, and so more men available for the tribal levy. Multiple wives were legal and normal in wealthy Israelite households, and the verse cites this simply as the reason for the high count.

5Their relatives in all the families of Issachar were strong fighting men. Counted in their family records, they came to 87,000 in all.

5And their brethren among all the families of Issachar were valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "thousand" (eleph) can also mean a clan or a military unit of unspecified size. This is one reason the tribal totals in Chronicles run so much higher than the likely population of ancient Israel, and why scholars disagree over how to read them.

6The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Becher, and Jediael. There were three of them.

6The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.

NoteBenjamin's descendants are listed again, at greater length and with different names, in chapter 8. Ancient family lists of the same tribe often disagree in detail, since they were compiled from different sources at different dates.

7The sons of Bela were Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five in all. They were the leaders of their family lines and strong fighting men. Their family records listed 22,034 men.

7And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.

8The sons of Becher were Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jerimoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All of these were the sons of Becher.

8And the sons of Becher; Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these are the sons of Becher.

9Their family records, listed by the leaders of their family lines, counted 20,200 strong fighting men.

9And the number of them, after their genealogy by their generations, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour, was twenty thousand and two hundred.

10The son of Jediael was Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan were Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.

10The sons also of Jediael; Bilhan: and the sons of Bilhan; Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.

11All these sons of Jediael were leaders of their family lines and strong fighting men. There were 17,200 soldiers ready to march out to war and fight.

11All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.

12Shuppim and Huppim were the descendants of Ir, and Hushim was the descendant of Aher.

12Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Ir, and Hushim, the sons of Aher.

NoteThis is the most obscure verse in the chapter; the Hebrew does not make clear whose descendants these people are or how they connect to what comes before. Two of the twelve tribes, Dan and Zebulun, are missing from this chapter, and because Genesis 46:23 names Hushim as Dan's son, some read "Aher", a word that simply means "another", as a damaged reference to Dan.

13The sons of Naphtali were Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum. They came from the line of Bilhah.

13The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

NoteBilhah was Rachel's slave, given to Jacob as a secondary wife; she bore Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 30). Naming the mother identifies which of Jacob's four wives a tribe descends from, a distinction that mattered for rank among the tribes.

14The descendants of Manasseh were these: Asriel, whom she bore. His Aramean slave wife bore Machir, the father of Gilead.

14The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:

NoteA concubine was a legally recognized secondary wife, usually a slave or a foreign woman, of lower standing than a full wife; her children could still count as legitimate heirs. "Aramean" means she came from Aram, the region roughly covering modern Syria. Gilead here is a person, but also the name of the hill country east of the Jordan river that Machir's descendants settled.

15Machir married a woman from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His own sister was named Maacah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had only daughters.

15And Machir took to wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister’s name was Maachah;) and the name of the second was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters.

NoteThe Hebrew of verses 14 to 16 is unusually tangled, and translations differ over who is whose sister, wife or son. Zelophehad's daughters are singled out because he had no sons: Numbers 27 and 36 record the five of them petitioning Moses, and the ruling that followed allowed daughters to inherit land when there was no son, provided they married inside their own tribe. A line with only daughters otherwise risked losing its land to another family.

16Maacah, the wife of Machir, gave birth to a son, and she named him Peresh. His brother was named Sheresh, and Sheresh's sons were Ulam and Rakem.

16And Maachah the wife of Machir bare a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.

17The son of Ulam was Bedan. These were the descendants of Gilead, who was the son of Machir, who was the son of Manasseh.

17And the sons of Ulam; Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.

18Gilead's sister Hammolecheth gave birth to Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.

18And his sister Hammoleketh bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.

NoteThe name Hammolecheth means something like "the queen" or "she who rules." It is unusual for these lists to trace a line through a woman at all.

19The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

19And the sons of Shemidah were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.

20The descendants of Ephraim were these: Shuthelah, then his son Bered, then his son Tahath, then his son Eleadah, then his son Tahath,

20And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,

21then his son Zabad, and then his son Shuthelah. Ezer and Elead were killed by the men of Gath who were born in that land, because they went down to steal their cattle.

21And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.

NoteGath was one of the five chief Philistine cities, in the lowlands near the coast. "Born in that land" marks them as the native inhabitants rather than settlers. Raiding a neighbor's livestock was a common form of low-level warfare; here it is Ephraim's sons who go down to raid, and they are killed doing it.

22Their father Ephraim mourned for many days, and his relatives came to comfort him.

22And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.

NoteFormal mourning ran for a set period, and relatives were expected to come and sit with the bereaved rather than leave him alone, the same custom that lies behind Job's friends coming to him.

23Then he slept with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. He named the boy Beriah, because trouble had come on his family.

23And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.

NoteThe name Beriah sounds like the Hebrew phrase be-ra'ah, "in misfortune." Hebrew names were often given as a play on words describing the circumstances of a birth, which is why the verse pauses to explain it.

24His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower Beth-horon and Upper Beth-horon, and also Uzzen-sheerah.

24(And his daughter was Sherah, who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper, and Uzzensherah.)

Note"Built" here means founded, or rebuilt and fortified with walls. Upper and Lower Beth-horon were twin towns guarding the steep pass that climbs from the coastal plain into the central hill country, one of the most strategically important roads in the land. Uzzen-sheerah carries her own name. A woman credited with founding towns is very rare in these records.

25Rephah was his son, and Resheph, then his son Telah, then his son Tahan,

25And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son,

26then his son Ladan, then his son Ammihud, then his son Elishama,

26Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,

27then his son Nun, then his son Joshua.

27Non his son, Jehoshuah his son,

NoteThis is Joshua son of Nun, who succeeded Moses and led Israel into Canaan. Placing him at the end of Ephraim's line is much of the reason the line is recorded here at all.

28The land they held and the places they lived in were Bethel and its villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages, reaching as far as Ayyah and its villages.

28And their possessions and habitations were, Bethel and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof:

NoteThe word rendered "villages" is literally "daughters" in Hebrew: the small unwalled settlements that depended on a walled town for protection and administration. The King James Version ends the list with "Gaza," following the Hebrew name Azzah; but Gaza was a Philistine city far to the southwest, well outside Ephraim's territory, so most modern translations read the name as Ayyah, a place nearer Shechem.

29Along the borders of the descendants of Manasseh were Beth-shean and its villages, Taanach and its villages, Megiddo and its villages, and Dor and its villages. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns.

29And by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Bethshean and her towns, Taanach and her towns, Megiddo and her towns, Dor and her towns. In these dwelt the children of Joseph the son of Israel.

NoteThese four towns lie across the Jezreel valley and the plain along the northern edge of Manasseh's territory. Judges 1:27 says Manasseh never drove out their Canaanite inhabitants, which is why the verse speaks of them as bordering Manasseh rather than belonging to it. "The descendants of Joseph" covers Ephraim and Manasseh together: Joseph had no tribe under his own name, his two sons each becoming a tribe instead.

30The children of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah.

30The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.

NoteDaughters are named in these lists only occasionally, usually when they mattered for inheritance or when an older tradition remembered them by name. Serah reappears in the lists of those who went down to Egypt in Genesis 46 and Numbers 26.

31The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. Malchiel was the father of Birzaith.

31And the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel, who is the father of Birzavith.

32Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, and Hotham, and of their sister Shua.

32And Heber begat Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua their sister.

33The sons of Japhlet were Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were the children of Japhlet.

33And the sons of Japhlet; Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the children of Japhlet.

34The sons of Shomer were Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram.

34And the sons of Shamer; Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram.

Note"Shomer" here is the same man as the Shomer of verse 32; the King James Version spells it "Shamer," following a variant in the Hebrew. Small spelling differences between manuscripts are common in these name lists, which is why the same person can appear under two forms within a few verses.

35The sons of his brother Helem were Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal.

35And the sons of his brother Helem; Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.

36The sons of Zophah were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah,

36The sons of Zophah; Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah,

37Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera.

37Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.

38The sons of Jether were Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara.

38And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.

39The sons of Ulla were Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.

39And the sons of Ulla; Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia.

40All these were the descendants of Asher. They were leaders of their family lines, picked men and strong fighters, and chief among the leaders. The number of men listed in their family records as ready for war and battle was 26,000.

40All these were the children of Asher, heads of their father’s house, choice and mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war and to battle was twenty and six thousand men.

Note"Chief among the leaders" translates a word (nasi) used for the head of a tribal subdivision, a man who spoke and acted for his clan. As at the start of the chapter, the closing figure counts men fit for the tribal levy, not the whole population.