Biblical Hebrew

1 Chronicles

דִּבְרֵי    הַיָּמִים    א
                                             " 1     the days   words of "


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Introduction

The Book of Chronicles is a Hebrew prose work 

constituting part of Jewish and Christian scripture. 

It contains a genealogy starting from Adam, and a narrative of the history of ancient Judah and Israel until the proclamation of 

King Cyrus the Great (c. 540 BC).

Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of Ketuvim, the last section of the Jewish Tanakh. 

It was divided into two books in the Septuagint, 

the Paralipoménōn (Greek: Παραλειπομένων, lit. "things left on one side").


In Christian contexts it is therefore known as the Books of Chronicles, 

after the Latin name chronicon given to the text by the scholar Jerome. 


In the Christian Bible, 

the books (commonly referred to as 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, 

or First Chronicles and Second Chronicles) generally follow the two 

Books of Kings, and precede Ezra–Nehemiah; 

thus they conclude the history-oriented books of the Old Testament.


Contents

1. Genealogical lists (1-9)

2. The death of Saul (10)

3. David in Jerusalem and Hebron (11-12)

 4. The Ark in Jerusalem (13-16)

5. God's promise to David (17)

6. Wars and administration (18-20)

7. David and the Temple service (21:1-29:9)

8. The last days of David (29:10-29:30)


Date

The last events in Chronicles take place in the reign of Cyrus the Great, 

the Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 BC; 

this sets the earliest possible date for the book.


Author

Chronicles appears to be largely the work of a single individual. 

The writer was probably male, probably a Levite (temple priest), 

and probably from Jerusalem. 

He was well-read, a skilled editor, and a sophisticated theologian. 

His intention was to use Israel's past to convey religious messages to his peers, the literary and political elite of Jerusalem in the time of the 

Achaemenid (First Persian) Empire.


The rest of this comprehensive Wikipedia article on the book can be read here.

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1 Chronicles 4:10
The Prayer of Jabez




                 וַיִּקְרָא       יַעְבֵּץ         לֵאלֹהֵי       יִשְׂרָאֵל    לֵאמֹר

                         saying       Israel       to the God(s) of     Jabez     and he called 


    אִם־      בָּרֵךְ           תְּבָרֲכֵנִי             וְהִרְבִּיתָ       אֶת־   גְּבוּלִי

  my border   OM   and you will enlarge   you will bless me   indeed bless   that


      וְהָיְתָה         יָדְךָ        עִמִּי               וְעָשִׂיתָ            מֵּרָעָה

       from evil     and you will keep (me)     with me     your hand     and it will be


  לְבִלְתִּי       עָצְבִּי               וַיָּבֵא       אֱלֹהִים  אֵת    אֲשֶׁר־  שָׁאָל׃

he asked    what     OM      God     and he granted      it may pain me   that not

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Wikipedia
Old Testament

The Prayer of Jabez



The Prayer of Jabez: 
Breaking Through to the Blessed Life 
is a book by Bruce Wilkinson published in 2000 by Multnomah Books as the first book in the "BreakThrough" book series.

The book became an international bestseller, topping the New York Times bestseller list and selling nine million copies.

Criticism
Jabez has been compared to the "prosperity gospel" and has received the reproaches often addressed toward that doctrine, e.g. that the Jabez prayer suggests that God ought to do what people want rather than them following God's will.
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“Ask, and it will be given to you” (Mt 7:7). 
“You do not have because you do not ask,” (James 4:2).
In Chapter 2 Wilkinson writes that this prayer has nothing in common with the "prosperity theology" as Jabez was asking in blind faith and trusted God to bless him where and when and how it pleased Him.

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