1 Chronicles 5:12
in 1 Chronicles 5Joel was the chief, Shapham the second, then Jaanai and Shaphat, who lived in Bashan.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
KJV
Joel the chief, and Shapham the next, and Jaanai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
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This verse in 1 Chronicles 5
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
dwelt over against them
on 1 Chronicles 5:11-17
Gad settled across from Reuben in Bashan, the tableland running to Salchah, and verse 17 says the line was reckoned twice over, once under Jotham king of Judah and once under Jeroboam king of Israel. Barnes reads the double dating as a sign that Judah still exercised some claim over the tribes east of Jordan in that period, even after the kingdom split. Gad's towns reached into the suburbs of Sharon, a name shared with the coastal plain near Joppa but here marking a district of Bashan itself.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Joel the chief,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the children of Gad dwelt over against them--The genealogy of the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh (1Ch 5:24) is given along with that of the Reubenites, as these three were associated in a separate colony.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Joel the chief - “Joel, prince of the Sanhedrin; and Shapham, master of the college; and Jaanai and Shaphat, judges in Mathnan.” - T.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And their brothers to the house of their fathers in the place of their genealogy.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יוֹאֵ֣ל | yoel | Joel | H3100 → | 20 times |
| הָרֹ֔אשׁ | harosh | [was] the chief | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וְשָׁפָ֖ם | veshafam | and Shapham | H8223 → | |
| הַמִּשְׁנֶ֑ה | hamishneh | [was] the second | H4932 → | 35 times |
| וְיַעְנַ֥י | veya'nai | and Janai | H3285 → | |
| וְשָׁפָ֖ט | veshafat | and Shaphat | H8202 → | 8 times |
| בַּבָּשָֽׁן׃ | babashan | in <the> Bashan | H1316 → | 60 times |
יוֹאֵ֣לJoel
yoelH3100 →20 times
הָרֹ֔אשׁ[was] the chief
haroshH7218 →599 times
וְשָׁפָ֖םand Shapham
veshafamH8223 →
הַמִּשְׁנֶ֑ה[was] the second
hamishnehH4932 →35 times
וְיַעְנַ֥יand Janai
veya'naiH3285 →
וְשָׁפָ֖טand Shaphat
veshafatH8202 →8 times
בַּבָּשָֽׁן׃in <the> Bashan
babashanH1316 →60 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About 1 Chronicles

Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonDivided kingdom (date contested)JoelProphet, son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1); his locust-plague oracle widens into the Day of the LORD and the promise of the Spirit poured…
- PlaceEast of the Sea of Galilee, north of GileadBashanThe fertile tableland east of the Sea of Galilee, the kingdom of Og and the giant clans, taken by Israel before the Jordan crossin…
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).
