1 Chronicles 11:36

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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הַמְּכֵ֣רָתִ֔י

Mᵉkêrâthîy

H4382

“the · Mecherathite”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: patrial from an unused name (the same as H4380 ) of a place in Palestine

TWOT: None

Mecherathite = "he of the dug-out" or " he of the digging tool" - a native or inhabitant of Mecherah

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

4: words
4: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

הַמְּכֵ֣רָתִ֔י Mecherathite H4382

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

הַמְּכֵ֣רָתִ֔י Mecherathite H4382

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הַפְּלֹנִֽי Pelonite H6397 occurs in 3 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 nouns

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 6 words from the Hebrew and 5 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 4 Hebrew tokens and 6 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Chronicles 11:36 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

חֵ֚פֶר הַמְּכֵ֣רָתִ֔י אֲחִיָּ֖ה הַפְּלֹנִֽי

Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Chronicles 11:36 Septuagint · lemma form

οφαρ ὁ μοχοραθι αχια ὁ φελωνι

the Mechorathrite, Achia the Phellonite,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on 1 Chronicles 11:36 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(36) Hepher the Mecherathite.—Wanting in the present text of Samuel. Mecherah is unknown as a place, and a comparison with Samuel (1Ch_11:34) suggests “Hepher the Maachathite,” i.e., of Abelbeth-Maachah, or perhaps the Syrian state of Maachah (2Sa_10:8).

Ahijah the Pelonite.—Instead of this Samuel has “Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite.” For Ahithophel, see 2Sa_15:31.

The Pelonite—i.e., so-and-so, may indicate either that Ahithophel’s name had become obscure in the chronicler’s MS., or that he was unwilling to mention the traitor. Ahijah (Jah is a brother) and Eliam (God is a kinsman) might be names of one person.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

36. Ahijah the Pelonite] A mutilated reading of 2Sa_23:34, “Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite.” For “Ahithophel” see 1Ch_27:33, note. “Gilonite” means “inhabitant of Giloh,” a town in the hill country of Judah (Jos_15:51).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Ahia, or rather "Eliam, the son of Achitophel, the Gilonite," 2 Kings. The name of the hero is lost here; and the latter part of his father’s name (p) has also been mistaken for g, which it resembles.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Pulpit Commentary

Hepher the Mecherathite. Although this name is not found in the parallel passage, it is tolerably plain that the niche for it is left before the words (ver. 34), "the son of the Maachathite," which last word answers to our Mecherathite. Ahijah the Pelonite. This name cannot be identified with the "Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite," which answers to it in the parallel.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Chronicles, in the Historical, opens this verse with 4 words (4 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Mᵉkêrâthîy (“Mecherathite”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Mecherathite” (Mᵉkêrâthîy) contribute to the verse as a whole?
This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. What might the rare word draw attention to?
The word “Mecherathite” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
1 Chronicles 11:27 shares the word «Pelonite» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Reading how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 4 Hebrew ↔ 6 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 2 words in this verse.
4 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 4 words in this verse.