The big picture
Issachar, one of Israel’s tribes, opens another group of family lists. Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher, other tribes within the same people, follow. Some entries count men fit for war; others name daughters, settlements, or family losses. Ephraim’s record pauses over grief before returning to births and later generations. These lists preserve more than numbers. They connect the tribes’ strength and homes with the households from which they grow.
In this chapter
- Households Supply Fighting Men 1 Chronicles 7:1-12
Issachar’s family heads are named alongside the fighting men counted under them.
- Women Link the Family Branches 1 Chronicles 7:13-19
Naphtali’s sons are named briefly, then the list turns to Manasseh.
- Grief Enters Ephraim’s Family 1 Chronicles 7:20-27
Ephraim’s line leads to Ezer and Elead, who are killed in a conflict over cattle.
- Joseph’s Descendants Have Named Homes 1 Chronicles 7:28-29
The account lists the holdings and homes of Joseph’s descendants.
- Asher’s Leaders and Warriors 1 Chronicles 7:30-40
Asher’s descendants are traced through several branches, with sisters named beside sons.
Central truth
The tribal records count fighting strength while also preserving women, family grief, and the places where descendants live.
Scripture beside the summary
1 Chronicles · King James Version · 401 Chronicles 7:1-12
Households Supply Fighting Men
Issachar’s family heads are named alongside the fighting men counted under them. The account connects large forces with many wives and sons. It gives a total of 87,000 brave men across Issachar’s families. Benjamin’s branches then receive their own names and counts. Each group is traced through fathers before its military strength is reported. The numbers are not detached from household life. They show how families become the groups from which armies are drawn, while the lists preserve the heads through whom those groups are known.
In everyday life
A volunteer brigade captain counts names at a muster point beside the fire station. Several related households supply trained members, so one surname appears many times. She checks each person rather than assuming the family name supplies a fixed number. The roster joins household links with readiness for service. These tribal counts concern armies equipped for war.
Notice
1 Chronicles 7:4 The many wives and sons explain the size of one force. The count grows from households, rather than appearing as a number without human roots.
1 Chronicles 7:1-12
King James Version1Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four.
2And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father’s house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.
3And the sons of Uzzi; Izrahiah: and the sons of Izrahiah; Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Ishiah, five: all of them chief men.
4And with them, by their generations, after the house of their fathers, were bands of soldiers for war, six and thirty thousand men: for they had many wives and sons.
5And their brethren among all the families of Issachar were valiant men of might, reckoned in all by their genealogies fourscore and seven thousand.
6The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.
7And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.
8And the sons of Becher; Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these are the sons of Becher.
9And the number of them, after their genealogy by their generations, heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour, was twenty thousand and two hundred.
10The sons also of Jediael; Bilhan: and the sons of Bilhan; Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.
11All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.
12Shuppim also, and Huppim, the children of Ir, and Hushim, the sons of Aher.
1 Chronicles 7:13-19
Women Link the Family Branches
Naphtali’s sons are named briefly, then the list turns to Manasseh. Machir’s family includes links through mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters. Zelophehad is noted as having daughters. Maachah names her son Peresh, and further children carry that branch onward. Hammoleketh also appears with her sons. The record does not give every person an event or speech. Still, the women’s names help show how the branches connect. The family cannot be followed only by ignoring mothers and reading a chain of fathers and sons.
In everyday life
The genealogy tutor turns a chart toward two sisters on a library bus. She points to the daughter through whom their branch joins the larger family. An older chart omitted that link and left their names floating apart. Adding the name reconnects them. The biblical list preserves tribal descent, not a completed class exercise.
Notice
1 Chronicles 7:15 Zelophehad is identified as having daughters. The brief note preserves the shape of his household within a record largely organised around sons.
1 Chronicles 7:13-19
King James Version13The sons of Naphtali; Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.
14The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:
15And Machir took to wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister’s name was Maachah;) and the name of the second was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters.
16And Maachah the wife of Machir bare a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.
17And the sons of Ulam; Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.
18And his sister Hammoleketh bare Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.
19And the sons of Shemida were, Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.
1 Chronicles 7:20-27
Grief Enters Ephraim’s Family
Ephraim’s line leads to Ezer and Elead, who are killed in a conflict over cattle. Men of Gath kill them, and Ephraim mourns for many days. His brothers come to comfort him. A later son receives the name Beriah because trouble has struck the household. The record also names Sherah, a daughter who builds three places. More generations follow until the list reaches Jehoshua. Loss interrupts the names, but does not end the family record. Grief, a new birth, building, and descent all remain part of the same household history.
In everyday life
An older brother sits beside a grieving father on a back step. He leaves the untouched tea within reach and stays without pressing for conversation. Inside, relatives speak softly about how the family will carry on. A new birth later brings hope without erasing the missing names. Ephraim’s grief follows violent deaths that this quiet scene does not recreate.
Notice
1 Chronicles 7:22 The brothers come to comfort Ephraim during prolonged mourning. The family list pauses long enough to show care around grief, not only record the deaths.
1 Chronicles 7:20-27
King James Version20And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,
21And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.
22And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
23And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.
24(And his daughter was Sherah, who built Beth-horon the nether, and the upper, and Uzzen-sherah.)
25And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son,
26Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
27Non his son, Jehoshua his son.
1 Chronicles 7:28-29
Joseph’s Descendants Have Named Homes
The account lists the holdings and homes of Joseph’s descendants. It names towns across Ephraim’s area, with directions helping place some of them. Other towns stand along Manasseh’s borders. Larger places appear with the smaller towns belonging to them. These entries connect the earlier family branches to land where people actually live. The names do not describe empty points on a map. They identify the homes of descendants whose family line goes back through Joseph to Israel, joining household descent with a shared place in the land.
In everyday life
A water meter reader unfolds a service map beside a pumping hut. He marks a main village and the smaller hamlets connected to its supply. His trainee sees why one large place name covers several separate stops. The marks connect a list with actual homes. Joseph’s descendants hold these settlements as inherited land, not service areas.
Notice
1 Chronicles 7:29 The closing line calls these people Joseph’s descendants. That shared ancestor connects the neighbouring groups named through their separate towns and borders.
1 Chronicles 7:28-29
King James Version28And their possessions and habitations were, Beth-el and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof:
29And by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Beth-shean and her towns, Taanach and her towns, Megiddo and her towns, Dor and her towns. In these dwelt the children of Joseph the son of Israel.
1 Chronicles 7:30-40
Asher’s Leaders and Warriors
Asher’s descendants are traced through several branches, with sisters named beside sons. The account follows households from one generation into the next. It then describes the listed men as chosen family heads and brave leaders. Those fit for battle total twenty-six thousand. The ending joins a long chain of names to a clear statement of strength. The tribe’s fighting force comes from people with family places, not from an unnamed mass. At the same time, the sisters in the list keep the record wider than a military count alone.
In everyday life
The regional cycling organiser checks a team list beside a velodrome track. Family names repeat, but each chosen rider has a place marked beside an event. She notes coaches and relatives on another sheet. The team total grows from distinct households and selected members. Asher’s men are counted for war rather than racing.
Notice
1 Chronicles 7:40 The final number applies to men fit for war. It should not be treated as a count of every person named or every member of Asher’s families.
1 Chronicles 7:30-40
King James Version30The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.
31And the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel, who is the father of Birzavith.
32And Heber begat Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua their sister.
33And the sons of Japhlet; Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the children of Japhlet.
34And the sons of Shamer; Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram.
35And the sons of his brother Helem; Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.
36The sons of Zophah; Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah,
37Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.
38And the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.
39And the sons of Ulla; Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia.
40All these were the children of Asher, heads of their father’s house, choice and mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war and to battle was twenty and six thousand men.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
1 Chronicles 7:1 begins with “Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four.”
Where the chapter turns
1 Chronicles 7:1 forms a natural hinge: “Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four.”
The final note
1 Chronicles 7:40 leaves the reader with “All these were the children of Asher, heads of their father’s house, choice and mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words sons, towns, house, bare, children, heads help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- begat
- became the father of
- unto
- to
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
