Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 5:26 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 26. 26And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition: “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Half-Manasseh's growth ends in Assyrian deportation.”
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 5:23–26
Read 1 Chronicles 5:26 with 5:23–26. The selected wording supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the relationships and outcome summarized here: Half-Manasseh's chiefs and territory are named, then Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh are judged for other worship and deported by Assyria.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Half-Manasseh's growth ends in Assyrian deportation,” 1 Chronicles 5:26 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: Eastern tribal growth, war, and settlement end in covenant breach and Assyrian deportation, preparing chapter 9's explicit exile-and-return horizon.
Read 1 Chronicles 5:23–26 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 5:23–26 forms the complete movement “Half-Manasseh's growth ends in Assyrian deportation”: Half-Manasseh's chiefs and territory are named, then Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh are judged for other worship and deported by Assyria.
Verse 23. 23 And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baal-hermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon.
Verse 24. 24 And these were the heads of the house of their fathers, even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers.
Verse 25. 25 And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.
Verse 26. 26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.
Follow the Context
- Half-Manasseh's chiefs and territory are named, then Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh are judged for other worship and deported by Assyria.
- The eastern section closes with exile, preventing military success and growth from becoming a permanent security formula.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Chronicles 5:26 does not permit the wording “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The deportation does not justify blaming later descendants, antisemitism, contempt for exiles, or presenting Assyria as morally innocent.
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: Half-Manasseh's chiefs and territory are named, then Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh are judged for other worship and deported by Assyria. In 1 Chronicles 5:26, the concrete line “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of….” When a community tells its story, document people accurately, notice women and outsiders as persons, state gaps honestly, and reject ancestry tests for dignity, faith, citizenship, land, or leadership. This response follows from the unit's own movement: Half-Manasseh's chiefs and territory are named, then Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh are judged for other worship and deported by Assyria.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 5:26 closes the eastern tribes with Assyrian deportation to named regions. Use 5:23–26, paraphrase “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Chronicles 5:23–26 — Half-Manasseh's growth ends in Assyrian deportationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Pul and Tiglath-pileser may be two royal names for one ruler, while destinations, dates, tribal continuity, and theological interpretation need comparison with Kings and Assyrian evidence.
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 5:23–26, 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 5:23–26
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 5:23–26, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗