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1 Chronicles 2:25–41, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
1 Chronicles 2:25–41
Jerahmeel's line continues through a daughter and an Egyptian servant
Jerahmeel's line includes other wives and childless deaths
Jerahmeel, Hezron's firstborn, has Ram, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. Another wife, Atarah, is named as Onam's mother. Abishur's wife Abihail bears Ahban and Molid. Seled dies without children. Jether dies without children. The genealogy tells failures of male succession instead of hiding them.
Sheshan's unnamed daughter and Jarha the Egyptian servant continue the house
Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. He had a servant, an Egyptian, named Jarha. Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha to wife, and she bare Attai. From Attai the list runs generation after generation to Elishama.
The woman's name is not given. Her consent is not given. Jarha's path into service is not given. Those gaps must remain gaps. What the text does show is that Judah's remembered ancestry includes a daughter whose marriage to an Egyptian servant is how the line continues. Service status does not justify slavery, forced marriage, or racial ranking, and the unnamed daughter is not property without a story of her own.
How this should shape us
When a record includes an unnamed woman and a person described as a servant, write the known relationship and stop. Protect agency. Refuse slavery or status as a model for belonging.
Teach it back
Explain 1 Chronicles 2:25–41 in your own words. Include its movement, placement in Chronicles, one Samuel-Kings comparison, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one modern use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The list states the marriage and descent but not the woman's name, consent, Jarha's route into service, or the household's social conditions; these gaps must remain gaps.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
1 Chronicles 2:25–41, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:25–41
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 2:25–41, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Supports: Complete article on the reuse of Genesis genealogies to negotiate a broad all-Israel identity after exile, used as a contextual proposal rather than an ethnic prescription.
Jonker, Old Testament Essays 25.2 (2012), pp. 316–333, especially pp. 316–323 and 328–331
Supports: Complete article tracing named and unnamed women, kinship functions, initiative, vulnerability, and postexilic significance in Chronicles' genealogies.
Olojede, Acta Theologica 33.1 (2013), pp. 158–174, especially pp. 161–173
Supports: Masoretic, Greek, Syriac, Latin, and reception evidence for Sheerah, construction language, and the limits of recovering the woman's precise historical role.
Snoek, Vetus Testamentum advance article (2026), 24 pages, complete published version on 1 Chronicles 7:24
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 1 Chronicles 2:25–41, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:25–41
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 1 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 2:25–41, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
Reading the Pentateuch's Genealogies after the Exile: The Chronicler's Usage of Genesis 1-11 in Negotiating an All-Israelite Identity
Louis C. Jonker
Old Testament Essays 25(2), pp. 316-333, 2012
Supports: Complete article on the reuse of Genesis genealogies to negotiate a broad all-Israel identity after exile, used as a contextual proposal rather than an ethnic prescription.
Exact location: Jonker, Old Testament Essays 25.2 (2012), pp. 316–333, especially pp. 316–323 and 328–331
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
Chronicler's Women: A Holistic Appraisal
Funlola Olojede
Acta Theologica 33(1), pp. 158-174, 2013
Supports: Complete article tracing named and unnamed women, kinship functions, initiative, vulnerability, and postexilic significance in Chronicles' genealogies.
Exact location: Olojede, Acta Theologica 33.1 (2013), pp. 158–174, especially pp. 161–173
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
Did an Ephraimite Woman Build Cities? The Early and Recent Reception of 1 Chronicles 7:24
Doren G. Snoek
Vetus Testamentum, Advance Articles, 24 pages, 2026
Supports: Masoretic, Greek, Syriac, Latin, and reception evidence for Sheerah, construction language, and the limits of recovering the woman's precise historical role.
Exact location: Snoek, Vetus Testamentum advance article (2026), 24 pages, complete published version on 1 Chronicles 7:24
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility: Chronicles in Its Ancient Context
Isaac Kalimi
Poznan Theological Studies repository edition, pp. 7-25, 2019 repository edition
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Exact location: Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Open source ↗