Hebrew word · H775

אַרְפַּכְשַׁד

'arpakhshad

Arpachshad

A personal or ethnic name of uncertain meaning and location. It is unique to the genealogies (Gen 10–11; 1 Chr 1).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.10.22;

son of: Shem (H8035);

brother of: Asshur (H0804H), Elam (H5867C), Lud (H3865) and Aram (H0758);

father of: Cainan (G2536); also called Arphaxad at Luk.3.36;

Also named: Arphaxad (Ἀρφαξάδ "Arphaxad" G0742)

§ Arphaxad = "I shall fail as the breast: he cursed the breast-bottle"

third son of Shem

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Genesis 10:22

Range of meaning

A personal or ethnic name of uncertain meaning and location. It is unique to the genealogies (Gen 10–11; 1 Chr 1).

Against the English

KJV and BSB use "Arphaxad", a spelling that comes through the Greek Septuagint. WEB, ESV and NASB follow the Hebrew more closely with "Arpachshad". Same person.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proposed identifications: (1) Arrapha/Arrapkha near modern Kirkuk (Ptolemy's "Arrapachitis"); (2) a name containing kśd, the root behind Kasdim, "Chaldeans", which fits Abram's origin in "Ur of the Kasdim" (11:28, 31); (3) a non-Semitic (for example Hurrian) name. None is certain. Josephus (Antiquities 1.144) makes him the ancestor of the Chaldeans.

Where it appears

Genesis · 6

  1. Genesis 10:22 וְאַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד and Arphaxad

    The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

    Here: The hardest name on the list to identify, and the most important for the story: through him the line runs to Shelah, Eber and eventually Abram (10:24; 11:10–26).

  2. Genesis 10:24 וְאַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד and Arphaxad

    Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.

  3. Genesis 11:10 אַרְפַּכְשָׁ֑ד Arphaxad

    This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.

  4. Genesis 11:11 אַרְפַּכְשָׁ֔ד Arphaxad

    And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

  5. Genesis 11:12 וְאַרְפַּכְשַׁ֣ד and Arphaxad

    When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah.

  6. Genesis 11:13 אַרְפַּכְשַׁ֗ד Arphaxad

    And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

1 Chronicles · 3

  1. 1 Chronicles 1:17 וְאַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד and Arphaxad

    The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.

  2. 1 Chronicles 1:18 וְאַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד and Arphaxad

    Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.

  3. 1 Chronicles 1:24 אַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד Arphaxad

    So from Shem came Arphaxad, Shelah,

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.