Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 4:19
The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and of Eshtemoa the Maacathite.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler inserts this entry into a genealogical survey of Judah and Simeon, cataloging the family lines responsible for settling southern territories. The passage operates as a tribal register rather than a spoken address or narrative event.
The words — אֲבִ֥י ('a.Vi) translates literally as "father" or founder, and קְעִילָ֖ה (ke.'i.Lah) names a specific locality. The verse explicitly states that the sons of Hodiah’s wife became the founding fathers of Keilah and Eshtemoa.
The thread — Keilah surfaces in Joshua 15:44 as a Judahite inheritance city and in 1 Samuel 23:1 as a location of Philistine warfare. The genealogy ties the town’s later military and territorial history to an earlier family settlement record.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that tribal land distribution and leadership were preserved through documented lineage rather than oral tradition. It requires the reader to accept the chronicler’s insistence that institutional memory begins with recorded family origins.
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
And the sons of his wife Hodiah the sister of Naham, the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maachathite.
Cross-references
- Joshua 15:44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah—nine cities, along with their villages.
- 1 Samuel 23:1 Now it was reported to David, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and looting the threshing floors.”