To Obededom southward; and to his sons the house of Asuppim.

1 CHRONICLES 26:15KJV
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1 Chronicles 26:15 (KJV)

What does 1 Chronicles 26:15 mean?

1 Chronicles 26:15 records an assignment among the temple gatekeepers. Obededom received the southern post, while his sons received responsibility for a place the KJV calls “the house of Asuppim.” The verse identifies where members of this family were to serve.

The assignment came by lot, as the surrounding passage explains. The narrator presents the result as part of an organized distribution of duties, with different gatekeeper families assigned to different places.

The Hebrew behind 1 Chronicles 26:15

  • “Asuppim” — אֲסֻפִּים (asuppim): The word carries the sense of things gathered or stored. The phrase “house of Asuppim” is often understood as referring to a storehouse, rather than to a house belonging to a person named Asuppim.

Why 1 Chronicles 26:15 matters

  • The verse distinguishes between a direction and a building. “Southward” identifies Obededom’s post, while “the house of Asuppim” identifies the place assigned to his sons.
  • Gatekeeping included attention to storage areas as well as entrances. The mention of the “house of Asuppim” places Obededom’s sons at a location associated with gathered supplies.

Where else these words appear

“Asuppim” Hebrew H624 · used in 3 verses

  • 1 Chronicles 26:17 Eastward were six Levites, northward four a day, southward four a day, and toward Asuppim two and two.
  • Nehemiah 12:25 Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates.

“Obededom” Hebrew H5654 · used in 15 verses

  • 2 Samuel 6:10 So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.
  • 1 Chronicles 13:14 And the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had.
  • 1 Chronicles 16:5 Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obededom: and Jeiel with psalteries and with harps; but Asaph made a sound with cymbals;

“southward” Hebrew H5045 · used in 98 verses

  • Genesis 12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
  • Joshua 15:19 Who answered, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs.
  • Isaiah 30:6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.