Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Chronicles 23:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first name, action, or speech: “The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish.” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Merari's line continues through daughters' marriages.”
Merari's house meets a line without sons
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Chronicles 23:21–23. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 23:21–23
Read 1 Chronicles 23:21 with 23:21–23. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first name, action, or speech; the surrounding verses supply the relationships and outcome summarized here: Mahli and Mushi's households include Eleazar's daughters, who marry their Kishite relatives, and three sons of Mushi.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Merari's line continues through daughters' marriages,” 1 Chronicles 23:21 opens the thought unit and establishes its first name, action, or speech through the wording “The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish.” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: A short legal-family notice preserves women where a male line ends before duties are summarized. 1 Chronicles 23:12–20 has just established this prior movement: Kohath's lines include Aaron and Moses, Aaron's descendants are separated for most-holy service and blessing, while Moses' sons remain Levites and other houses receive chiefs. Together those details explain why “Merari's line continues through daughters' marriages” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 1 Chronicles 23:21–23 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 23:21–23 forms the complete movement “Merari's line continues through daughters' marriages”: Mahli and Mushi's households include Eleazar's daughters, who marry their Kishite relatives, and three sons of Mushi.
Verse 21. 21 The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish.
Verse 22. 22 And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them.
Verse 23. 23 The sons of Mushi; Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three.
What Remains True
Communal memory must preserve real people, households, disruptions, and belonging without turning ancestry into superiority, spiritual rank, or entitlement. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Mahli and Mushi's households include Eleazar's daughters, who marry their Kishite relatives, and three sons of Mushi. In 1 Chronicles 23:21, the concrete line “The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Chronicles 23:21–23 — Merari's line continues through daughters' marriagesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 23:21–23, 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 23:21–23
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 23:21–23, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗