1 Chronicles 4:17

(17) And the sons of Ezra.—Heb., son, but some MSS. have sons (see Note on 1Ch_3:19; 1Ch_3:21). Ezra means help = Ezer, 1Ch_4:4.

Jether occurred 1Ch_2:32, as a Jerahmeelite.

Epher recurs 1Ch_5:24, as a Manassite name.

Jalon and Mered occur nowhere else.

And she bare.—Literally, conceived. Who bare the three sons, whose names follow, is not clear from the preceding statement, which includes none but male appellations. The LXX. reads, “And Jether bare Maron (Miriam),” &c, and the Syriac and Arabic omit 1Ch_4:17-18. This confirms our suspicion that the text is faulty.

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

1Ch 4:17 And the sons of Ezra [were], Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon: and she bare Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.

Ver. 17. And the sons of Ezra.] Not that learned scribe, {Ezr 7:1} - there is a difference in the last letter of their names - but the son, as it seems, of Asareel.

And she bare,] i.e., Bithiah {1Ch 4:18} bare.

Miriam.] The name of a man in this place.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

The information in 1 Chronicles 4:17-18 has been rearranged so its meaning can be more easily understood. (See: Verse Bridges)

Ezrah ... Jether ... Mered ... Epher ... Jalon ... Miriam ... Shammai ... Ishbah ... Eshtemoa ... Jered ... Gedor ... Heber ... Soko ... Jekuthiel ... Zanoah

These are the names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

These were the sons of Bithiah

The word "these" refers to Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah. They were the sons Bithiah bore for her husband Mered.

Bithiah

This is the name of a woman.

Mered's Judahite wife

The Hebrew text says, "His Judahite wife," but most versions understand "his" to refer to Mered. This refers to a different wife of Mered, in addition to Bithiah.

translationWords

Egypt

Pharaoh

Jew

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

she bare Miriam--It is difficult, as the verses stand at present, to see who is meant. The following readjustment of the text clears away the obscurity: "These are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took, and she bare Miriam, and his wife Jehudijah bare Jezreel," &c.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

17. and Jalon: and she bare Miriam] As the text stands she has no antecedent. It has therefore been proposed to transfer from 1Ch_4:18 the words And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took, and put them after Jalon. Bithiah then appears as the mother of Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah, and the difficulty of the absence of her sons’ names from 1Ch_4:18 disappears. For father of Eshtemoa see 1Ch_2:14 note, and for Eshtemoa see Jos_21:14.

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.

And the sons of Ezra,.... Who was perhaps the son of Asareel, last mentioned:

Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon; only one of them, Mered, is after mentioned:

and she bare Miriam; which is not the name of a woman, but of a man, as Kimchi observes; and, according to him, his mother was the wife of Mered, which he gathers from the next verse; though she seems to be the wife of Ezra, who bare him other sons:

and Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa; a prince of a city in the tribe of Judah, so called, Jos 15:50.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

She bare Miriam - Rather, “she conceived.” The mother is not mentioned, and it seems impossible to restore the original text with any certainty.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ezra; the son of Ashriel last named.

She bare; she, i.e. Bithiah, bare unto Mered, as may seem by comparing this with 1Ch 4:18.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 17, 18. From the tangle of these verses it is hopeless to attempt any certain conclusions. The fact of the antithesis of the Jewess wife (by some assigned as wife to Ezra), and the presumably Egyptian wife mentioned in the latter verse, is perhaps just enough in the general obscurity to suggest that Mered, the asserted husband of the latter, is to be understood as the husband of the former also But to compass so much as this, we have to overlook omission in ver. 17 and inversion in ver. 18. There is a tone about the verses, due to names they contain, that might suggest to us the times of Egypt and Moses, and traditions in keeping do not fail to come to view in Jerome ("Quaestiones," etc.; see also art. "Meted," Smith"s "Bible Dictionary"). The four places, Eshtemoa, Gedor, Socho, Zanoah, may all with tolerable confidence be identified in Jos_15:48-58, as of the number of the cities "in the mountains," though Zanoah and Socho are found also "in the valley". (Jos_15:33-36) In this passage the Septuagint gives us no help, but betrays its own perplexity, offering to make Jether the father of Miriam; while the Syriac and Arabic versions simply skip the verses as incoherent.

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

And the sons of Ezra,.... Who was perhaps the son of Asareel, last mentioned:

Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon; only one of them, Mered, is after mentioned:

and she bare Miriam; which is not the name of a woman, but of a man, as Kimchi observes; and, according to him, his mother was the wife of Mered, which he gathers from the next verse; though she seems to be the wife of Ezra, who bare him other sons:

and Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa; a prince of a city in the tribe of Judah, so called, Jos 15:50.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)