Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 8:34
The son of Jonathan: Merib-baal, and Merib-baal was the father of Micah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler records Saul’s lineage to the post-exilic community, placing this verse in a direct genealogical list that follows Jonathan’s death and precedes Micah’s offspring. The text functions as a structural bridge between Saul’s generation and the next.
The words — The verb הוֹלִיד (ho.Lid) literally means “he fathered,” while the name מְרִיב־בַּעַל (Merib-baal) translates to “contender with Baal.” These terms anchor the verse in a straightforward genealogical record rather than theological commentary.
The thread — The lineage of Merib-baal and his son Micah appears in 2 Samuel 4:4 and 2 Samuel 9:12, where Merib-baal is identified as Jonathan’s lame son and Mica as his offspring. These parallels confirm a continuous genealogical thread across Samuel and Chronicles.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition of how biblical genealogies preserve fallen house lines without erasing their historical continuity. It requires the reader to track textual transmission across books rather than extract moral lessons.
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 son of Jonathan was Merib–baal; and Merib–baal begat Micah.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 4:4 And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
- 2 Samuel 9:12 And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica, and all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth.
- 2 Samuel 9:6 And when Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he fell facedown in reverence. Then David said, “Mephibosheth!” “I am your servant,” he replied.
- 2 Samuel 9:10 You and your sons and servants are to work the ground for him and bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
- 2 Samuel 19:24 Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely.