1 Chronicles 2

The descendants of Judah

1 The sons of Israel were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

2:2Israel was the name that God gave to Jacob. Jacob's 12 sons became the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel.

3 Judah's sons were: Er, Onan and Shelah. Their mother was Bath-shua, who was a woman from Canaan. Judah's firstborn son Er did things that the Lord saw were evil. So the Lord killed him.

2:3When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.

4 Judah had sex with Er's widow, Tamar. She gave birth to two sons for Judah, Perez and Zerah. Judah was the father of five sons.

5 Perez's sons were: Hezron and Hamul.

6 Zerah's five sons were: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara.

7 Carmi's son was Achar. Achar caused a lot of trouble for Israel. He took for himself things that belonged to God.

8 Ethan's son was Azariah.

9 Hezron's sons were: Jerahmeel, Ram and Caleb.

2:9‘Caleb’ or ‘Chelubai’.

The descendants of Ram

10 Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the leader of Judah's tribe. 11 Nahshon became the father of Salma. Salma became the father of Boaz. 12 Boaz became the father of Obed. Obed became the father of Jesse.

2:11Boaz married Ruth. You can read more about her in the Book of Ruth.

13 Jesse's firstborn son was Eliab. His second son was Abinadab, and his third son was Shimea. 14 His fourth son was Nethanel and his fifth son was Raddai. 15 His sixth son was Ozem and his seventh son was David. 16 Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah's three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel. 17 Abigail gave birth to Amasa. Amasa's father was Jether, a descendant of Ishmael.

2:17In these family lists, ‘son’ can mean ‘descendant’.

The descendants of Caleb

18 Hezron's son Caleb married Azubah, who was also called Jerioth. Her sons were Jesher, Shobab and Ardon. 19 When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath. She gave birth to a son called Hur. 20 Hur became the father of Uri. Uri became the father of Bezalel.

2:18This Caleb is not the same as the man who was Moses' helper.

21 After some time, when Hezron was 60 years old, he married Makir's daughter. She was Gilead's sister. Hezron had sex with her and she gave birth to a son called Segub.

22 Segub became the father of Jair. Jair ruled 23 towns in the region of Gilead. 23 But later Geshur and Aram attacked Jair's towns and took them for themselves. They also took Kenath and the 60 small towns around it.

All those people were descendants of Gilead's father, Makir.

24 After Hezron died, Caleb married his father's widow, Ephrathah. She gave birth to a son for him. His name was Ashhur, and he became the father of Tekoa.

The descendants of Jerahmeel

25 Hezron's firstborn son was Jerahmeel. Jerahmeel's sons were: Ram (his firstborn son), Bunah, Oren, Ozem and Ahijah. 26 Jerahmeel had another wife, called Atarah. She gave birth to Onam.

27 The sons of Jerahmeel's firstborn son, Ram, were: Maaz, Jamin and Eker.

28 Onam's sons were: Shammai and Jada.

Shammai's sons were: Nadab and Abishur.

29 Abishur's wife was called Abihail. She gave birth to Ahban and Molid.

30 Nadab's sons were: Seled and Appaim. When Seled died, he had no sons.

31 Appaim's son was Ishi. Ishi's son was Sheshan. Sheshan's son was Ahlai.

32 The sons of Jada, Shammai's brother, were: Jether and Jonathan. When Jether died, he had no sons.

33 Jonathan's sons were: Peleth and Zaza.

All those men were Jerahmeel's descendants.

34 Sheshan did not have any sons but he did have daughters. He had a servant from Egypt called Jarha. 35 Sheshan gave his daughter to his servant Jarha, to be his wife. She gave birth to a son for him, called Attai.

36 Attai became the father of Nathan. Nathan became the father of Zabad. 37 Zabad became the father of Ephlal. Ephlal became the father of Obed. 38 Obed became the father of Jehu. Jehu became the father of Azariah. 39 Azariah became the father of Helez. Helez became the father of Eleasah. 40 Eleasah became the father of Sismai. Sismai became the father of Shallum. 41 Shallum became the father of Jekamiah. Jekamiah became the father of Elishama.

More descendants of Caleb

42 The sons of Jerahmeel's brother, Caleb, were: Mesha, his firstborn son. Mesha became the father of Ziph. His son Mareshah became the father of Hebron.

43 Hebron's sons were: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem and Shema. 44 Shema became the father of Raham, who became the father of Jorkeam. Rekem became the father of Shammai. 45 Shammai's son was Maon, who became the father of Beth-Zur.

46 Caleb had a slave wife called Ephah. She gave birth to Haran, Moza and Gazez. Haran became the father of Gazez.

47 Jahdai's sons were: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah and Shaaph.

48 Caleb's other slave wife Maakah gave birth to Sheber, Tirhanah, 49 Shaaph and Sheva. Shaaph became the father of Madmannah. Sheva became the father of Makbenah and Gibea. Caleb had a daughter called Aksah.

50-51 Those people were Caleb's descendants.

The sons of Ephrath's firstborn son, Hur, were: Shobal, Salma and Hareph. Shobal became the ancestor of Kiriath-Jearim. Salma became the ancestor of Bethlehem. Hareph became the ancestor of Beth-Gader.

52 The sons of Shobal, the ancestor of Kiriath-Jearim, were: Haroeh, half the Manahath people 53 and the clans of Kiriath-Jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites and Mishraites. The Zorathites and Eshtaolites were descendants of these clans.

54 Salma's descendants were: the people of Bethlehem, the people of Netophath, the clan of Atroth-Beth-Joab, half the Manahath people and the Zorites. 55 His descendants also included the people who lived in Jabez. They were people who could write down important things. Their clans were called the Tirathites, Shimeathites and Sucathites. These clans were descendants of Hammath, the Kenite man. He was also the ancestor of the Rekabites.