Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 1:17
The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler records a genealogical list for post-exilic Israel, tracing the descendants of Shem immediately after detailing the sons of Japheth. This moment occurs at the opening of the book's historical framework to establish ancestral lines. The words — בְּנֵ֣י (be.Nei) translates literally as "the sons of" and anchors the list to the patriarch שֵׁ֔ם (Shem). The text explicitly enumerates five named descendants before branching into Aram’s offspring. The thread — Genesis 10:22 repeats the identical five sons of Shem. Genesis 11:10 notes that Shem fathered Arphaxad two years after the flood, while Genesis 14:1 references a king ruling over Elam. Why it lands — The text establishes a structured transmission of identity across generations, grounding Israel's ancestry in a recorded post-flood genealogy. It requires the reader to recognize the precise lineage rather than mythic speculation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech.
Cross-references
- Genesis 10:22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
- Genesis 11:10 This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
- Genesis 14:1 In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim
- Numbers 23:7 And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’
- Numbers 24:22 Yet Kain will be destroyed when Asshur takes you captive.”
- Ezra 4:2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families, saying, “Let us build with you because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the time of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here.”
- Psalms 83:8 Even Assyria has joined them, lending strength to the sons of Lot. Selah
- Isaiah 11:11 On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
- Isaiah 21:2 A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.”
- Isaiah 22:6 Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.