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1 Chronicles 8:33–34 (and 9:39–40)

Esh-baal and Merib-baal

Chronicles names Saul's son Esh-baal and Jonathan's son Merib-baal. 2 Samuel calls them Ish-bosheth ("man of shame") and Mephibosheth. Most scholars think the Baal forms are original and scribes later replaced "Baal" with "shame" in Samuel.

Read 1 Chronicles 8:33–34 (and 9:39–40) in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Khirbet Qeiyafa jar inscriptionc. 1000 BC
  2. 2 Samuel 2:8; 4:4 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Samuel
  3. Original ChroniclesComposed c. 4th century BC (debated)
  4. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. c. 1000 BC

    Khirbet Qeiyafa jar inscription

    ⓘ Reports what manuscripts contained

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Reads "Eshbaal son of Beda." Shows the name was used in Saul's time; it is not Saul's son.

  2. Samuel

    2 Samuel 2:8; 4:4 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)

    ✓ Contains this passage

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    אִישׁ בֹּשֶׁת… מְפִיבֹשֶׁת

    Ish-bosheth… Mephibosheth

  3. Composed c. 4th century BC (debated)

    Original Chronicles

    – No copy survives

    No original survives; no certain Qumran copy of 1 Chronicles.

  4. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Melchisué, Aminadab et Asabal… Jonathas engendra Meribaal

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  5. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Esbaal… Meribbaal

  6. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וְאֶת־אֶשְׁבָּעַל… מְרִיב בָּעַל

    and Esh-baal… Merib-baal

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Esh-baal… Merib-baal

What changed, and why

Baal ("lord, master") could refer to Israel's God in early times (compare Hosea 2:16). After Baal worship was condemned, scribes replaced it with bosheth, "shame" (compare Jerubbaal → Jerubbesheth, 2 Samuel 11:21). Chronicles preserved the earlier forms.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedChronicles has Baal-names where Samuel has bosheth-names.
  • Strongly supportedThe Baal forms are original.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • Benjamin and Saul's Line →The tribe of Benjamin, its clans at Geba, Ono, Lod, Aijalon and Jerusalem, and the family of Saul: Ner, Kish, Saul, and Saul's sons Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab and Esh-baal; Jonathan's son Merib-baal; and Saul's descendants for many generations.
  • Investigation: Hebrew, Greek, Samuel and Chronicles →When Chronicles and Samuel differ, three different things may be happening: the Chronicler used a different form of Samuel; he changed his source deliberately; or one of the books was miscopied later. A fourth layer comes from translation. This lesson sorts the main 1 Chronicles differences.