1 Chronicles 4:29 Meaning and Explanation
“And at Bilhah, and at Ezem, and at Tolad,”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Comparing two lists of the same towns can unsettle a reader. Joshua 19 has Balah, Ezem, and Eltolad; Chronicles has Bilhah, Ezem, and Tolad. Learning why such differences occur, and why they leave the trustworthiness of Scripture intact, is worth more than skipping past the line. Verse 29 is a good place to work that out.
Three more Simeonite towns are added to the list, each introduced by the same short phrase. The names appear in Joshua's older record with slightly different spellings, a normal feature of ancient place lists.
The Context of 1 Chronicles 4:29
The list of Simeon's settlements began at verse 28 with Beersheba, Moladah, and Hazarshual. Verse 29 continues it, and verses 30 and 31 carry it through Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, Bethmarcaboth, Hazarsusim, Bethbirei, and Shaaraim, closing with the note that these were their cities until David reigned. Verse 32 then distinguishes five villages from the cities, and verse 33 rounds off the section. The same towns are recorded in Joshua 19 as Simeon's inheritance, taken out of the portion first measured to Judah.
What Does 1 Chronicles 4:29 Mean?
Each name arrives with the same two words in front of it: and at. The repetition gives the passage a walking pace, as though a surveyor were reading off stops along a route. Bilhah comes first, spelled Balah in Joshua's list and Baalah in another. Ezem stands unchanged, appearing as Azem elsewhere in the King James rendering of the same Hebrew consonants. Tolad appears in Joshua as Eltolad, carrying the divine element El at the front. Ancient towns collected variant forms the way old villages anywhere do, and Hebrew spelling of place names shifted across centuries of copying and speech.
These towns appear twice in Joshua, once among the cities of Judah in chapter 15 and again as Simeon's inheritance in chapter 19, because Simeon's portion was carved out of land already measured to Judah. Chronicles reproduces the list a second time for readers generations later. Scripture is comfortable letting us see its own sources and their small variations, which is one mark of an honest record rather than a polished invention. The repetition also serves a purpose. A community returning from exile and sorting out who belonged where needed the old boundaries in writing, and the Chronicler supplies them town by town.
Joshua closes his account of the settlement by saying that nothing failed of all the good things the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel, and that all came to pass. Verse 29 is a fragment of that all. Three small towns, occupied by families of a tribe that never grew large, standing as evidence that God keeps promises down to the level of particular places. The habit of Scripture is to bring large commitments to earth in small specifics, and the same instinct runs through the Gospels, where the Word made flesh grows up in a named village in a named district. God works in the concrete.
Bible Verses Related to 1 Chronicles 4:29
“And Hazarshual, and Balah, and Azem,”
- Joshua 19:3
“Baalah, and Iim, and Azem,”
- Joshua 15:29
“There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.”
- Joshua 21:45
“And all their villages that were round about the same cities, unto Baal. These were their habitations, and their genealogy.”
- 1 Chronicles 4:33
Where 1 Chronicles 4:29 Echoes in Scripture
Joshua 19:3 names Hazarshual, Balah, and Azem in one breath, and the next verse adds Eltolad, Bethul, and Hormah. Set beside 1 Chronicles 4:29 and 4:30, the correspondence is unmistakable even where the spellings shift. The Chronicler is drawing on the same inheritance record that Joshua preserved, using it to remind a later generation that these towns were assigned by lot under Joshua and Eleazar rather than seized at will.
How to Apply 1 Chronicles 4:29 Today
Small differences between parallel accounts can rattle confidence, in Scripture and in life. A name spelled two ways, a number remembered differently, a detail that will not line up. Verse 29 offers a calm example. The variation is real, the substance is steady, and the towns are the same towns. We can hold our questions without panic, look at the evidence carefully, and let honest study strengthen trust. The same patience helps with people. Two family members recalling one event will differ in details while telling the same true story.
Reflection & Prayer
Which unanswered question about the Bible have I been carrying quietly, and who could help me look at it honestly? Lord, you are patient with slow readers and with anxious ones. Give me courage to bring my questions into the light. Grow a trust in me that can hold difficulty without shaking, and let careful study lead me closer to you rather than further away. Amen.