1 Chronicles 4

EasyEnglish Bible

Other descendants of Judah

4 Judah's descendants were: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur and Shobal. ² Shobal's son Reaiah became the father of Jahath. Jahath became the father of Ahumai and Lahad. Those were the ancestors of the Zorathite clans.

^3-4 Caleb's wife Ephrathah gave birth to their firstborn son, Hur. Hur was the ancestor of the people of Bethlehem. His three sons were Etam, Penuel and Ezer.

Etam's sons were: Jezreel, Ishma and Idbash. Their sister was Hazzelelponi. Penuel became the father of Gedor. Ezer became the father of Hushah.

⁵ Tekoa's father Ashhur had two wives called Helah and Naarah. ⁶ The sons of Ashhur and his wife Naarah were: Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni and Haahashtari. ⁷ The sons of Ashhur and his wife Helah were: Zereth, Izhar, Ethnan ⁸ and Koz. Koz became the father of Anub, Hazzobebah and the clans of Harum's son, Aharhel.

⁹ Another of Judah's descendants was called Jabez. People respected him more than his brothers. His mother called him Jabez, because she said, ‘I had a lot of pain at his birth.’^{[a] 10} Jabez prayed to Israel's God for help. He said, ‘Please bless me very much and give me more land. Please take care of me so that nothing hurts me and I do not have pain.’ God did what Jabez had prayed for.

¹¹ Kelub, Shuhah's brother, became the father of Mehir. Mehir became the father of Eshton. ¹² Eshton became the father of Beth-Rapha, Paseah and Tehinnah. Tehinnah became the father of Ir-Nahash. Those people lived at Recah.

¹³ The sons of Kenaz were: Othniel and Seraiah.

Othniel's sons were: Hathath and Meonothai. ¹⁴ Meonothai became the father of Ophrah.

Seraiah became the father of Joab. Joab was the ancestor of the people who live in Ge-Harashim. Those people had special skills to make things.^[b]

¹⁵ The sons of Jephunneh's son Caleb were: Iru, Elah and Naam. Elah's son was Kenaz.

¹⁶ Jehallelel's sons were: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria and Asarel.

^17-18 Ezrah's sons were: Jether, Mered, Epher and Jalon.

Mered married Bithiah. Her father was the king of Egypt. The children of Mered and Bithiah were: Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah. Ishbah became the father of Eshtemoa.

Mered had another wife who belonged to Judah's tribe. Her sons were Jered, Heber and Jekuthiel. Jered became the father of Gedor. Heber became the father of Soco. And Jekuthiel became the father of Zanoah.

¹⁹ Hodiah's wife was Naham's sister. She gave birth to two sons. One of them became the father of Keilah, the ancestor of the Garmites. The other son became the father of Eshtemoa, the ancestor of the Maakathites.

²⁰ Shimon's sons were: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan and Tilon.

Ishi's descendants were Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.

^21-22 These were the sons of Judah's son, Shelah: Er, Laadah, Jokim, Joash, Saraph and Jashubi-Lehem. Er became the father of Lecah. Laadah became the father of Mareshah. Joash and Saraph both married women from Moab and they returned to live in Lehem. Other clans that were descendants of Shelah worked with linen at Beth-Ashbea, and some lived in Cozeba. (These lists are from old history books.) ²³ Those people made pots. They lived in Netaim and Gederah. They lived there and they worked for the king.

The descendants of Simeon

²⁴ Simeon's descendants were: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah and Shaul.

²⁵ Shaul's son was Shallum. Shallum's son was Mibsam. Mibsam's son was Mishma.

²⁶ Mishma's descendants were his son Hammuel, Hammuel's son Zaccur, and Zaccur's son Shimei.

²⁷ Shimei had 16 sons and six daughters. But his brothers did not have many children. So their clan did not become as large as the people of Judah's tribe. ²⁸ Shimei's descendants lived in these cities and towns: Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-Shual, ²⁹ Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, ³⁰ Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, ³¹ Beth-Marcaboth, Hazar-Susim, Beth-Biri and Shaaraim. They lived in those places until David became king. ³² They also lived in these five villages: Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Token and Ashan. ³³ There were also other villages round the same towns, as far as Baalath town. Those were the places where they lived. They wrote down a list of the names of their ancestors.

³⁴ The leaders of their clans were: Meshobab, Jamlech, Amaziah's son Joshah, ³⁵ Joel, Jehu (son of Joshibiah, who was the son of Seraiah and grandson of Asiel), ³⁶ Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah ³⁷ and Ziza. Ziza was the son of Shiphi, who was the son of Allon and grandson of Jedaiah. Jedaiah was the son of Shimri and grandson of Shemaiah.

³⁸ Those men were the leaders of their clans. Their families became very large. ³⁹ They travelled to the east side of the valley to find grass for their sheep to eat. They went as far as Gedor. ⁴⁰ They found good fields that had plenty of grass. The soil was good and the place was large. There were no troubles in that region. Some descendants of Ham had been living there.^[c]

⁴¹ When Hezekiah was the king of Judah, those leaders of Simeon's clans attacked the people who lived there. Some of those people were called Meunites. The men of Simeon destroyed their homes and they killed all the people. So even today none of those people still live there. Simeon's people lived there instead, because there was good grass for their sheep.

⁴² Later, another 500 men of Simeon's tribe went to the hill country of Seir. Their leaders were Ishi's sons: Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah and Uzziel. ⁴³ They killed all the descendants of Amalek who were still alive. They took their land and they still live there now.