Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 4:23
These were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the service of the king.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler inserts this note between a list of Moabite rulers and a Simeonite genealogy to document settlement patterns. The verse identifies a specific occupational group residing within Simeon’s tribal territory.
The words — יוֹצְרִים (yotserim) means "potters" or "vessel-makers," and מְלַאכְתּוֹ (melakhto) translates to "his service." The text states these artisans dwelt at Netaim and Gederah while working under royal authority.
The thread — This royal pottery service echoes the chronicler’s earlier mention of craftsmen in 1 Chronicles 4:14, while Psalms 81:6 contrasts earthly labor with divine relief. Both passages frame work within the broader biblical theme of human occupation and divine provision.
Why it lands — The verse records how specialized trades operated under royal administration within a tribal inheritance. It requires the reader to acknowledge that genealogical records document economic structures alongside ancestral lines.
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
These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work.
Cross-references
- Psalms 81:6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.
- 1 Chronicles 4:14 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.