1 Chronicles 15:23 — Word Study
WLCוּבֶֽרֶכְיָה֙ וְאֶלְקָנָ֔ה שֹׁעֲרִ֖ים לָאָרֽוֹן׃
BSABerechiahBerekyâh [a name meaning 'Jehovah blesses'] and ElkanahʼElqânâh [God has possessed] were to be guardiansshôwʻêr [doorkeepers, responsible for watching over] of the arkʼârôwn [a sacred chest, the Ark of the Covenant]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וּבֶֽרֶכְיָה֙ | and Berekiah | Conjunction, noun proper masculine |
| וְאֶלְקָנָ֔ה | and Elkanah | Conjunction, noun proper masculine |
| שֹׁעֲרִ֖ים | [were] gatekeepers | Noun common, masculine plural absolute |
| לָאָרֽוֹן׃ | for the ark | Preposition, noun common masculine singular absolute |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Berechiah and Elkanah were to be guardians of the ark. |
| KJV | And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. |
| ASV | And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. |
| YLT | And Berechiah and Elkanah [are] gatekeepers for the ark. |
| WEB | Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. |
| BBE | And Berechiah and Elkanah were door-keepers for the ark. |
Where they part company is in the interpretation of שֹׁעֲרִים — see How Translations Differ.
The main clause presents the subjects and their roles, with a prepositional phrase clarifying the object of their guardianship.
7 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — 1 Chronicles 15:23
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Duties of the Levitesgenerated
1 Chronicles 15:23 describes the roles assigned to the Levites in relation to the ark of the covenant. It emphasizes the importance of their duties in safeguarding sacred objects during the transport of the ark, highlighting the reverence and responsibility associated with the ark's care.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 Chronicles 9:21–23 | Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was the gatekeeper at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. |
| 2 | 2 Kings 22:4 | “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him count the money that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. |
| 3 | 2 Kings 25:18 | The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers. |
| 4 | Psalm 84:10 | For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 4 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — בֶּרֶכְיָה, u.ve.rekh.Yahgenerated
The name בֶּרֶכְיָה (Berekiah) means 'Jehovah blesses' and is derived from the root words for 'knee' and 'blessing.' This name appears multiple times in the Old Testament, often associated with significant figures in Jewish history, including a Levite responsible for the ark.
Berekiah's role as a guardian of the ark illustrates the respect and duty given to those entrusted with sacred responsibilities. The parsing as a proper masculine noun indicates its use as a personal name rather than a common noun.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
In this study, the verse is read in the Berean Standard Bible, which uses the term guardians for the Hebrew word שֹׁעֲרִים, aligning with the KJV and ASV.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The finite verb is implied in the phrase, with the subject being a compound noun phrase: וּבֶֽרֶכְיָה֙ וְאֶלְקָנָ֔ה (and Berekiah and Elkanah) followed by a predicate that describes their role: שֹׁעֲרִ֖ים ([were] gatekeepers).
The structure indicates that both names are linked as subjects of the same action, emphasizing their joint responsibility in the guardianship of the ark.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates שֹׁעֲרִים as πυλωροὶ (gatekeepers), which captures the essence of their role as guardians. This choice reflects a consistent understanding of their function in relation to the sacred ark.
The Greek term emphasizes the protective aspect of their duty, aligning with the Hebrew meaning of overseeing access to the ark.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
1 Chronicles 15:23 tells us that Berekiah and Elkanah were appointed as guardians of the ark. This verse highlights their important roles in protecting the sacred object during its transport.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Berekiah means 'Jehovah blesses' and is a name given to several individuals in the Old Testament.
Elkanah means 'God has possessed' and is known as the father of the prophet Samuel.
Gatekeepers had the important responsibility of guarding sacred spaces and ensuring that only those authorized could access them.
The ark represents God's presence among His people and contains sacred items, making its protection vital.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What responsibilities do I have in my community that require careful stewardship?
- How can I better understand the significance of sacred objects in my faith?
- In what ways can I serve as a guardian of what is sacred in my life?
- What lessons can I learn from the roles of Berekiah and Elkanah in my own responsibilities?
Commentators on this verse — 7 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on 1 Chronicles 15:23 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd Berechiah, and Elkanah, were doorkeepers for the ark,.... Either while it was at Kirjathjearim, and at Obededom's house; or rather after it was put in the tabernacle David had prepared for it;
Read John Gill on 1 Chronicles 15 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.
Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Chronicles 15 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleThey were appointed to keep the door of the tent, in which the ark was to be put and kept, that no unallowed person might press in and touch it; and in like manner they were to attend upon the ark in the way, and to guard it from the press and touch of profane hands; for which end these two went before the ark, as their other two brethren, mentioned in the close of , came after it, that so it might be guarded on all sides; which, how necessary it was to be done, sufficiently appears from the danger of coming too near the ark, or to look into it, which was exemplified in the Bethshemites, .
Read Matthew Poole on 1 Chronicles 15 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments1 Chronicles 15:23 And Berechiah and Elkanah [were] doorkeepers for the ark.Ver. 23. Were doorkeepers.] To keep off any such as would rush rudely upon the ark. Procul, o procul este profani; Stand off.
Read John Trapp on 1 Chronicles 15 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(23) Doorkeepers for the ark.—“Porters” (1 Chronicles 15:18). Warders are meant. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also warders of the Ark (1 Chronicles 15:24). In the procession two may have walked in front of it and two behind. They would be responsible for the prevention of all unauthorised approach to the Ark of God.
Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 Chronicles 15 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges23. were door-keepers for the ark] The same statement is made in 1 Chronicles 15:24 concerning Obed-edom and Jehiah.
Read Cambridge on 1 Chronicles 15 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible23. Doorkeepers for the ark — Whose duty it was to see that no one profanely touched the ark, or attempted, like the men of Beth-shemesh, (1 Samuel 6:19,) to uncover and look into it.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on 1 Chronicles 15 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Berechiah and Elkanah were to be guardians of the ark.
Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.
Berechiah and Elkanah were to be guardians of the ark.
Berechiah and Elkanah were guardians of the ark;
Tyndale line
And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.
And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.
And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.
And Berechiah and Elkanah were door-keepers for the ark.
And Berechiah and Elkanah were porters for the Arke.
Strictly literal
And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.
And Berechiah and Elkanah [are] gatekeepers for the ark.
And Berechiah and Elkanah [are] gatekeepers for the Ark.
And Berechyah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.
Berechiah and Elkanah were guards for the ark.
From the Latin
And Barachias, and Elcana, were doorkeepers of the ark.
Simplified
Berechiah and Elkanah were appointed to guard the Ark.
And Berechiah and Elkanah were door-keepers for the ark.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree on the wording of this verse, confirming the roles of Berekiah and Elkanah as gatekeepers of the ark without any variations.
וּבֶֽרֶכְיָה֙ וְאֶלְקָנָ֔ה שֹׁעֲרִ֖ים לָאָרֽוֹן׃
4 of the 4 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in 1 Chronicles 15:23
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
יְבֶרֶכְיָ֫הוּ (Berekyah) means 'Jehovah blesses' and refers to several individuals in the Old Testament, including a son of Zerubbabel and a Levite associated with the ark. The name is derived from the words for 'knee' and 'blessing.' It appears in various contexts, notably in genealogies and during the time of the Exile and Return.
יְבֶרֶכְיָ֫הוּ n.pr.m. (Yah blesseth) father of a Zechariah in Isaiah’s time Is 8:2; usually in abbreviated form as foll.: בֶּרֶכְיָה,
son of Zerubbabel
a Levite guard of the ark
father of Meshullam, one of Nehemiah’s chiefs
father of prophet Zechariah
father of Asaph
Ephraimite chief
base
H1296 יְבֶרֶכְיָ֫הוּ
1296 Berekyah beh-rek-yaw'
or Berekyahuw {beh-rek-yaw'-hoo}; from 1290 and 3050; knee
(i.e. blessing) of Jah; Berekjah, the name of six
Israelites:--Berachiah, Berechiah.
see HEBREW for 01290
see HEBREW for 03050
בֶּרֶכְיָה (be.rekh.yah) — Berechiah.
A man of the tribe of Judah living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ch.3.20;
son of: Zerubbabel (H2216);
brother of: Meshullam (H4918H), Hananiah (H2608L), Shelomith (H8019I), Hashubah (H2807), Ohel (H0169), Hasadiah (H2619), Jushab-hesed (H3142), Abiud (G0010)
§ Berachiah or Berechiah = "Jehovah blesses"
1) a son of Zerubbabel
2) a Levite who returned for the exile
3) father of Meshullam, one of Nehemiah's chiefs who assisted in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem
4) father of Zechariah
5) a Gershonite Levite, the father of Asaph, the singer, doorkeeper of the ark
6) an Ephraimite chief in the time of Ahaz
בֶּרֶכְיָה (be.rekh.yah) — Berechiah.
A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Ch.6.39;
son of: Shimea (H8092H);
father of: Asaph (H0623H)
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun proper masculineHC/Npm
The Hebrew word אֶלְקָנָה (Elqanah) means 'God has created' or 'God has taken possession.' It refers to several individuals in the Old Testament, including Samuel's father, a ruler during Ahaz's reign, and various Levites. The name is composed of elements meaning 'God' and 'to obtain.' It is first mentioned in Exodus 6:24.
אֶלְקָנָה n.pr.m. (God has created, or taken possession)
father of Samuel
son of Korah
a ruler in Jerusalem in the time of Ahaz
one of David’s warriors
several Levites
base
H511 אֶלְקָנָה (God has created, or taken possession) . father of Samuel
. son of Korah
. a ruler in Jerusalem in the time of Ahaz
. one of David’s warriors
. several Levites
511 'Elqanah el-kaw-naw'
from 410 and 7069; God has obtained; Elkanah, the name of
several Israelites:--Elkanah.
see HEBREW for 0410
see HEBREW for 07069
אֶלְקָנָה (el.qa.nah) — Elkanah.
A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, first mentioned at Exo.6.24;
son of: Korah (H7141I);
brother of: Assir (H0617) and Ebiasaph (H0043)
§ Elkanah = "God has possessed" or "God has created"
1) Samuel's father
2) a ruler in Jerusalem in the time of king Ahaz
3) one of David's mighty warriors
4) son of Korah
5) several Levites
אֶלְקָנָה (el.qa.nah) — Elkanah.
A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of United Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Sa.1.1;
son of: Jeroham (H3395); married to Hannah (H2584) and Peninnah (H6444);
father of: Samuel (H8050)
§ Elkanah = "God has possessed" or "God has created"
1) Samuel's father
2) a ruler in Jerusalem in the time of king Ahaz
3) one of David's mighty warriors
4) son of Korah
5) several Levites
אֶלְקָנָה (el.qa.nah) — Elkanah.
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun proper masculineHC/Npm
el-ka'-na ('elqanah, "God has possessed"):
(1) An Ephraimite, the father of Samuel (1Sa 1:1-28; 2:11-20). Of his two wives, Hannah, the childless, was best beloved. At Shiloh she received through Eli the promise of a son. Elkanah, with Hannah, took the young Samuel to Shiloh when he was weaned, and left him with EIi as their offering to Yahweh. They were blessed with three other sons and two daughters.
Elkanah
God-created. (1.) The second son of Korah (Ex. 6:24), or, according to 1 Chr. 6:22, 23, more correctly his grandson.
(2.) Another Levite of the line of Heman the singer, although he does not seem to have performed any of the usual Levitical offices. He was father of Samuel the prophet (1 Chr. 6:27, 34). He was “an Ephrathite” (1 Sam. 1:1, 4, 8), but lived at Ramah, a man of wealth and high position. He had two wives, Hannah, who was the mother of Samuel, and Peninnah.
God the zealous; the zeal of God
שֹׁעֵר (sho'er) refers to a doorkeeper or porter, derived from the active participle form of a root meaning to guard or keep. The term is consistently defined across entries as a gatekeeper, emphasizing its role in overseeing entrances.
שֹׁעֵר 37 n.m. porter
base
H7778 שֹׁעֵר, שׁוֹעֵר
7778 show`er sho-are'
or shomer {sho-are'}: active participle of 8176 (as
denominative from 8179); a janitor:--doorkeeper, porter.
see HEBREW for 08176
see HEBREW for 08179
שֹׁעֵר (sho.er) — gatekeeper.
gatekeeper, porter
N-mp — Noun common · masculine plural absoluteHNcmpa
The Hebrew word אֲרוֹן, transliterated as arown, means 'chest' or 'ark.' It can refer to various types of containers, including a money chest, the Ark of the Covenant, and even a coffin. The word is built from the root meaning 'gathering' and is used in contexts related to sacred and practical storage.
אֲרוֹן, c. art. הָאָרוֹן, הָאָרֹן 203 n.m. chest, ark
chest, for money-offerings
sarcophagus, mummy-case
chest, ark in tabernacle & temple
base
H727 אֲרוֹן, c. art. הָאָרוֹן, הָאָרֹן chest, ark
727 'arown aw-rone'
or laron {aw-rone'}; from 717 (in the sense of gathering); a
box:--ark, chest, coffin.
see HEBREW for 0717
אֲרוֹן (a.ron) — ark.
1) chest, ark
1a) money chest
1b) Ark of the Covenant
2)(TWOT) coffin
Prep | N-cs — Preposition · noun common masculine singular absoluteHRd/Ncmsa
see ARK OF BULRUSHES; ARK OF THE COVENANT; ARK OF NOAH
Ark
Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen. 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side and a window in the roof. It was 100 years in building (Gen. 5:32; 7:6). It was intended to preserve certain persons and animals from the deluge which God was about to bring over the earth. It contained eight persons (Gen. 7:13; 2 Pet. 2:5), and of all “clean” animals seven pairs, and of “unclean” one pair, and of birds seven pairs of each sort (Gen. 7:2, 3). It was in the form of an oblong square, with flat bottom and…