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1 Chronicles 4

The chapter records Judah’s and Simeon’s families through ancestry, work, prayer, and the settlement and seizure of land.

Judah’s family records continue, naming descendants alongside towns and trades, including linen workers and potters who served the king. The narrator pauses over Jabez, whose birth brought sorrow and whose prayer God answered. Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter, also appears among these families. The record then turns to Simeon’s descendants and settlements. It closes with accounts of Simeonite groups seeking pasture, destroying inhabitants near Gedor, and striking Amalekite survivors at Mount Seir.

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1The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.
2Reaiah the son of Shobal became the father of Jahath; and Jahath became the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites.
4Penuel was the father of Gedor and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.
9Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him with sorrow.”
10Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border! May your hand be with me, and may you keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” God granted him that which he requested.
13The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel: Hathath.
14Meonothai became the father of Ophrah: and Seraiah became the father of Joab the father of Ge Harashim, for they were craftsmen.
15The sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz.
17The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon; and Mered’s wife bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.
18His wife the Jewess bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. These are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took.
19The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.
21The sons of Shelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of those who worked fine linen, of the house of Ashbea;
24The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul;
27Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family didn’t multiply like the children of Judah.
28They lived at Beersheba, Moladah, Hazarshual,
30at Bethuel, at Hormah, at Ziklag,
32Their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan, five cities;
39They went to the entrance of Gedor, even to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.
40They found rich, good pasture, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceful, for those who lived there before were descended from Ham.
41These written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and struck their tents and the Meunim who were found there; and they destroyed them utterly to this day, and lived in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks.
43They struck the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have lived there to this day.
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Key verses
1 Chronicles 4:10Jabez’s answered prayer interrupts the genealogy, placing his dependence on the God of Israel within the family record.
1 Chronicles 4:4The record links Hur and Ephrathah with Bethlehem, rooting Judah’s genealogy in a named place.
1 Chronicles 4:18Bithiah’s marriage to Mered places an Egyptian royal daughter within this account of Judah’s families.
Where this chapter reaches

Joshua shares the record of Simeon’s towns, including Beersheba and Ziklag, while Matthew shares the place name Bethlehem, associated here with Hur’s family. Jabez’s appeal for God’s blessing and protection also shares a prayer theme with Psalm, where speakers seek God’s help against evil.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do the named craftspeople and their work add to your reading of these family records?

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How does Jabez’s request for God’s presence shape your understanding of his request for a larger border?

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Questions people ask about 1 Chronicles 4

Who was Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4?

Jabez appears within Judah’s family records, though these verses do not identify his parents or descendants. He is described as more honorable than his brothers. His mother associated his name with the sorrow of his birth. He asked the God of Israel for blessing and protection, and God granted his request.

Does the prayer of Jabez promise wealth?

Jabez asks God to bless him, enlarge his border, be with him, and keep him from evil so that he may not cause pain. The text reports that God granted his request. It gives no command to repeat his words and makes no promise that everyone praying them will gain wealth.

Who was Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter?

Bithiah is named as Pharaoh’s daughter and as the woman Mered married. She appears in Judah’s family record alongside descendants associated with several towns. The passage does not identify her father by name or explain how the marriage came about. It provides too little information to establish her wider biography.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).