Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 7:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence: “And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Ephraim's line holds killing, mourning, Sheerah's building, and Joshua.”
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 7:20–29
Read 1 Chronicles 7:21 with 7:20–29. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the relationships and outcome summarized here: Ephraim's sons are killed during a cattle raid, the household mourns, Beriah is born amid disaster, Sheerah builds towns, and the line reaches Joshua and Josephite settlements.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Ephraim's line holds killing, mourning, Sheerah's building, and Joshua,” 1 Chronicles 7:21 advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The genealogy becomes miniature narrative, refusing to reduce ancestry to names by preserving grief, a woman's building work, and territorial memory. 1 Chronicles 7:13–19 has just established this prior movement: A brief Naphtali line leads into Manasseh households involving an Aramean concubine, Maachah, Zelophehad's daughters, Hammoleketh, and several sons. Together those details explain why “Ephraim's line holds killing, mourning, Sheerah's building, and Joshua” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 1 Chronicles 7:20–29 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 7:20–29 forms the complete movement “Ephraim's line holds killing, mourning, Sheerah's building, and Joshua”: Ephraim's sons are killed during a cattle raid, the household mourns, Beriah is born amid disaster, Sheerah builds towns, and the line reaches Joshua and Josephite settlements.
Verse 20. 20 And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath his son,
Verse 21. 21 And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle.
Verse 22. 22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
Verse 23. 23 And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.
Verse 24. 24 (And his daughter was Sherah, who built Beth-horon the nether, and the upper, and Uzzen-sherah.)
Verse 25. 25 And Rephah was his son, also Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son,
Verse 26. 26 Laadan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
Verse 27. 27 Non his son, Jehoshua his son.
Verse 28. 28 And their possessions and habitations were, Beth-el and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof:
Verse 29. 29 And by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Beth-shean and her towns, Taanach and her towns, Megiddo and her towns, Dor and her towns. In these dwelt the children of Joseph the son of Israel.
Follow the Context
- Ephraim's sons are killed during a cattle raid, the household mourns, Beriah is born amid disaster, Sheerah builds towns, and the line reaches Joshua and Josephite settlements.
- The genealogy becomes miniature narrative, refusing to reduce ancestry to names by preserving grief, a woman's building work, and territorial memory.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Chronicles 7:21 does not permit the wording “And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The passage does not blame mourners, romanticize cattle violence, erase Sheerah, turn her into a fantasy biography, or grant modern title to named towns.
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: Ephraim's sons are killed during a cattle raid, the household mourns, Beriah is born amid disaster, Sheerah builds towns, and the line reaches Joshua and Josephite settlements. In 1 Chronicles 7:21, the concrete line “And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that….” 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: Ephraim's sons are killed during a cattle raid, the household mourns, Beriah is born amid disaster, Sheerah builds towns, and the line reaches Joshua and Josephite settlements.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 7:21 reports Ezer and Elead killed by Gath-born men during a cattle seizure. Use 7:20–29, paraphrase “And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that…,” 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 7:20–29 — Ephraim's line holds killing, mourning, Sheerah's building, and JoshuaSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The chronology relative to Exodus traditions and the textual witnesses for Sheerah's building differ. The recent proposal that the earliest inferable text names her as builder is plausible, not certain.
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 7:20–29, 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 7:20–29
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 7:20–29, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗