God's New Bible

The First Book of the Chronicles

Catholic Public Domain Version 2009

- Chapter 4 -

1
The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.
2
Truly, Reaiah, the son of Shobal, conceived Jahath; from him were born Ahumai and Lahad. These are the kindred of the Zorathites.
3
And this is the stock of Etam: Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash. And the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi.
4
Now Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratha, the father of Bethlehem.
5
Truly, for Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, there were two wives: Helah and Naarah.
6
And Naarah bore to him: Ahuzzam, and Hepher, and Temeni, and Haahashtari. These are the sons of Naarah.
7
And the sons of Helah were Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan.
8
Now Koz conceived Anub, and Zobebah, and the kindred of Aharhel, the son of Harum.

The Prayer of Jabez

9
But Jabez was renowned, more so than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “For I bore him in sorrow.”(a)
10
Truly, Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “If only, when blessing, you will bless me, and will broaden my borders, and your hand will be with me, and you will cause me not to be oppressed by evil.” And God granted to him the things for which he prayed.

More Descendants of Judah

11
Now Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, conceived Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.
12
Then Eshton conceived Bethrapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of the city of Nahash. These are the men of Recah.
13
Now the sons of Kenaz were Othniel and Seraiah. And the sons of Othniel were Hathath and Meonothai.
14
Meonothai conceived Ophrah, but Seraiah conceived Joab, the father of the Valley of Artisans. For indeed, there were artisans there.
15
Truly, the sons of Chelub, the son of Jephunneh, were Iru, and Elah, and Naam. And the sons of Elah: Kenaz.(b)
16
Also, the sons of Jehallelel: Ziph and Ziphah, Tiria and Asarel.
17
And the sons of Ezrah: Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon; and he conceived Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.
18
And then his wife, Judaia, bore Jered, the father of Gedor, and Heber, the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel, the father of Zanoah. Now there were sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married,(c)
19
and sons of his wife Hodiah, the sister of Naham, the father of Keilah the Garmite, and of Eshtemoa, who was from Maacathi.
20
And the sons of Shimon: Amnon, and Rinnah, son of Hanan, and Tilon. And the sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Benzoheth.(d)
21
The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah: Er, the father of Lecah, and Laadah, the father of Mareshah, and the kindred of the house of the workers of fine linen in the house of the oath,
22
and he who caused the sun to stand still, and the men of Lying, and Secure, and Burning, who were leaders in Moab, and who returned into Lehem. Now these words are ancient.(e)
23
These are the potters living in the Plantations and in the Hedges, with a king in his works, and they were dwelling there.(f)

The Descendants of Simeon

24
The sons of Simeon: Nemuel and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul;
25
Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son.
26
The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.
27
The sons of Shimei were sixteen, and there were six daughters. But his brothers did not have many sons, and the entire kindred was not equal to the sum of the sons of Judah.
28
Now they lived in Beersheba, and Moladah, and Hazarshual,
29
and in Bilhah, and in Ezem, and in Tolad,
30
and in Bethuel, and in Hormah, and in Ziklag,
31
and in Beth-marcaboth, and in Hazarsusim, and in Bethbiri, and in Shaaraim. These were their cities until king David.
32
And their towns were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities,
33
with all their villages, on every side of these cities, as far as Baal. This is their habitation and the distribution of the settlements.
34
And there were Meshobab and Jamlech, and Joshah, the son of Amaziah,
35
and Joel, and Jehu, the son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel,
36
and Elioenai, and Jaakobah, and Jeshohaiah, and Asaiah, and Adiel, and Jesimiel, and Benaiah,
37
as well as Ziza, the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah.
38
These were the names of the leaders in their kindred. And they were multiplied greatly within the houses of their marriages.
39
And they set out, so that they might enter into Gedor, as far as the eastern valley, and so that they might seek pastures for their flocks.
40
And they found fat and very good pastures, and a very wide and quiet and fruitful land, in which some from the stock of Ham had lived before.
41
So then, those whose names have been written above, went forth in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah. And they struck down the inhabitants who had been found there with their dwellings. And they wiped them out, even to the present day. And they lived in place of them, because they found very fat pastures there.
42
Also, some of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went away to mount Seir, having as leaders Pelatiah and Neariah and Rephaiah and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.
43
And they struck down the remnant of the Amalekites, those who had been able to escape, and they lived there in place of them, even to this day.

Footnotes

(a)4:9 Jabes:That is, sorrowful.(Challoner)
(b)4:15 The word sons is plural, even though Elah had only one son, because all of that one son’s own sons would also be attributed to Elah as his ‘sons’.(Conte)
(c)4:18 It is not clear from the Latin or Hebrew text what the relationship is among the persons mentioned in these verses.(Conte)
(d)4:20 Benzoheth may have been the son of Zoheth and the grandson of Ishi. The word ‘son’ was used broadly by the Jews to include descendents beyond immediate sons.(Conte)
(e)4:22 He that made, etc:Viz., Joazim, the meaning of whose name in Hebrew is, he that made the sun to stand. In like manner the following names, Lying (Chozeba), Secure (Joas), and Burning (Saraph), are substituted in place of the Hebrew names of the same signification.(Challoner)
(f)4:23 Plantations and Hedges:These are the proper names of the places where they dwelt. In Hebrew Atharim and Gadira.(Challoner)