UNROLL
Dawn over the hill country of Judah seen from a ridge near Bethlehem: rounded limestone hills ribbed with terraces of vines and olives, small stone villages on the far ridges with threads of cooking smoke, a shepherd and his flock tiny on a slope, under a calm rose-to-blue sky.

The Book of

1 Chronicles 4

Clans, towns, craftsmen and a king’s potters, and in the middle of the names, one man who called out to God.

43 verses≈ 6 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–9GenealogiesAll Israel, from AdamChapter 4
  2. 10Saul fallsThe kingdom turned to David
  3. 11–12David kingAll Israel gathers
  4. 13–16The arkBrought home with songs
  5. 17The covenantA house forever
  6. 18–20David's warsThe LORD gave victory
  7. 21The siteOrnan's threshing floor
  8. 22–27Preparing the templePriests, Levites and singers
  9. 28–29David's farewellBe strong, and do the work

The Descendants of Judah

Bethlehem’s ridge and the terraced fields of Ephrathah below in golden late-afternoon light, flocks on the far slopes and smoke rising from the houses.

Family line

Judah’s clans: the house of Hur

  1. Judah
    • Perez
    • Hezron
    • Carmi
    • Hur
    • Shobal

    Descendants, not brothers

    The descendants of Judah:

    Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.

  2. ReaiahJahath
    • Ahumai
    • Lahad

    Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath was the father of Ahumai and Lahad.

  3. Clans of the Zorathites

    These were the clans of the Zorathites.

  4. Etam
    • Jezreel
    • Ishma
    • Idbash

    These were the sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash.

  5. Hazzelelponi

    Their sister

    And their sister was named Hazzelelponi.

  6. Penuel

    Ezer, father of Hushah

    Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah.

  7. Hur

    Father of Bethlehem

    firstborn of Ephrathah

    These were the descendants of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah and the father of Bethlehem.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Late afternoon on the bare ridge at Tekoa: a herdsman with a staff stands among his sheep on stony ground, looking east where tan hills fall away toward the haze over the Dead Sea, a few low stone houses behind him.

Family line

Ashhur, father of Tekoa

  1. Ashhur

    Married Helah and Naarah

    Father of Tekoa

    Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

    • Ahuzzam
    • Hepher
    • Temeni
    • Haahashtari

    Sons of Naarah

    Naarah bore to him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the descendants of Naarah.

    • Zereth
    • Zohar
    • Ethnan
    • Koz

    Sons of Helah

    The sons of Helah were Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan,

    and Koz, who was the father of Anub and Zobebah and of the clans of Aharhel son of Harum.

The Prayer of Jabez

Jabez

Reflect

Named for pain

His mother named him for her suffering: “Because I bore him in pain.” A name like that could have followed Jabez all his life. Instead he took it to “the God of Israel.” His prayer is not a formula for getting what we want; God gave what He chose to give. But Jesus says the Father loves to give good things to those who ask Him. What pain, or what label, has followed you? Write a prayer that hands it to Him.

More Descendants of Judah

Morning at the gate of a small hill town in Judah: Othniel, a strong bearded man with a sheathed bronze sword at his belt, stands in the gateway looking out; men of Judah with spears gather behind him.

Family line

Recah and Kenaz

  1. ChelubMehirEshton

    Brother of Shuhah

    Chelub the brother of Shuhah was the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.

  2. Eshton
    • Beth-rapha
    • Paseah
    • Tehinnah

    Tehinnah’s town: Ir-nahash

    Eshton was the father of Beth-rapha, of Paseah, and of Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash.

  3. The men of Recah

    These were the men of Recah.

  4. Kenaz
    • Othniel
    • Seraiah

    The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah.

    • Hathath
    • Meonothai

    The sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai.

Meonothai was the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of those living in Ge-harashim, which was given this name because its people were craftsmen.

Portrait of Caleb at eighty-five in morning light: upright and broad-shouldered, white beard, deeply lined sun-browned face and keen eyes, a bronze-tipped spear held upright like a staff.

Family line

Caleb and his kin

    • Iru
    • Elah
    • Naam

    Son of Jephunneh

    The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam.

  2. Elah

    The son of Elah: Kenaz.

    • Ziph
    • Ziphah
    • Tiria
    • Asarel

    Sons of Jehallelel

    The sons of Jehallelel:

    Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

    • Jether
    • Mered
    • Epher
    • Jalon

    Sons of Ezrah

    The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon.

And Mered’s wife Bithiah gave birth to Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa. These were the children of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah.

Family line

Mered, Hodiah and Shimon

  1. Mered
    • Jered
    • Heber
    • Jekuthiel

    Sons of a Judean wife

    Mered also took a Judean wife, who gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.

  2. fathers of Keilah and Eshtemoa

    Sons of Hodiah’s wife

    The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and of Eshtemoa the Maacathite.

    • Amnon
    • Rinnah
    • Ben-hanan
    • Tilon

    Sons of Shimon

    The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon.

    • Zoheth
    • Ben-zoheth

    Descendants of Ishi

    The descendants of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

The sons of Shelah son of Judah:

Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,

Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi-lehem. (These names are from ancient records.)

These were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the service of the king.

Pray

Work done for the King

Smiths in a valley of craftsmen, linen workers at Beth-ashbea, potters who “lived there in the service of the king.” God kept their names and their trades in His word, beside the judges and the princes. Thank Him that He knows every family by name. Pray for anyone whose name or past carries pain, that they would call on Him as Jabez did. And offer Him your own work today, ordinary as it is, to be done well for the true King.

The Descendants of Simeon

Family line

Simeon’s clans

  1. Simeon
    • Nemuel
    • Jamin
    • Jarib
    • Zerah
    • Shaul

    The descendants of Simeon:

    Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul.

  2. Shaul
    • Shallum
    • Mibsam
    • Mishma

    The sons of Shaul:

    Shallum, Mibsam, and Mishma.

  3. Mishma
    • Hammuel
    • Zaccur
    • Shimei

    The sons of Mishma:

    Hammuel, Zaccur, and Shimei.

  4. Shimei

    sixteen sons and six daughters

    Not as many as Judah

    Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, so their whole clan did not become as numerous as the sons of Judah.

Evening in the northern Negev near Beersheba: a low town mound with a few flat-roofed mud-brick houses inside a low wall, a stone-lined well where a shepherd waters his flock, another small mound far off across the dry, rolling plain, under a wide amber-to-blue sky.

They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,

Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,

Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until the reign of David.

And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan—five towns—

and all their surrounding villages as far as Baal.

0:28

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Simeon’s leaders

Their genealogical record

  1. Their settlements and their record

    These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record:

  2. Meshobab, Jamlech and Joshah

    Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,

  3. Son of Joshibiah

    Joel and Jehu

    Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah (son of Seraiah, son of Asiel),

  4. Seven more leaders

    Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,

  5. Five generations

    Ziza son of Shiphi

    and Ziza son of Shiphi (son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah).

  6. The leaders of their clans

    These men listed by name were the leaders of their clans.

Gedor (site uncertain)AmalekitesSeir (Edom)NegevBeershebaMoladah (site uncertain)Hormah (site uncertain)Ziklag (site uncertain)Ain-RimmonAshan (site uncertain)

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Simeon in the south

Simeon’s towns lay inside Judah’s land, in the dry south (the Negev) around Beersheba. Ain and Rimmon, probably near neighbors, share one marker. As their families grew, some went out for pasture to Gedor (perhaps near Gerar), and in Hezekiah’s day five hundred of them went to Mount Seir in the southeast. Several of these sites are uncertain.

Spring morning at the mouth of a broad green valley: a wide, quiet pasture of new grass and wildflowers with a stream, and in the foreground Simeonite herdsmen with staffs and laden donkeys, seen from behind, stopping on a rise to look.

Their families increased greatly,

and they journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, in search of pasture for their flocks.

There they found rich, good pasture, and the land was spacious, peaceful, and quiet; for some Hamites had lived there formerly.

These who were noted by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. They attacked the Hamites in their dwellings as well as the Meunites who were there, devoting them to destruction even to this day. Then they settled in their place, because there was pasture for their flocks.

The red sandstone mountains of Seir at sunset, cliffs and canyons falling to a dry valley where a herder's black tents and flock sit small below.

And five hundred of these Simeonites led by Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, went to Mount Seir

and struck down the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped. And they have lived there to this day.

Question

Quick question

In the middle of a long list of names, one man prays.

What did Jabez ask of the God of Israel?

You’ve experienced

1 Chronicles 4

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A verse to carry with you

And Jabez called out to the God of Israel, “If only You would bless me and enlarge my territory! May Your hand be with me and keep me from harm, so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted the request of Jabez.

1 Chronicles 4:10

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