1 Chronicles 23:21 (WEB)
The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
1 Chronicles 23:21–22 (KJV)
21 The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish. 22 And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them.
Key words
- בְּנֵי־קִישׁ אֲחֵיהֶםbene-Qish achehem · Hebrew
- 'their brethren the sons of Kish' — the daughters of Eleazar marry the sons of Kish, their father's brother; first cousins are called 'brethren.'
- οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶνhoi adelphoi autōn · Greek (LXX)
- 'their brothers' — again adelphoi for cousins.
Why it matters
Eleazar's daughters are married by 'their brethren the sons of Kish,' who are explicitly their first cousins. Pitre calls this the cleanest specimen of 'brothers' meaning cousins in the Greek Old Testament (pp 106–107). With Genesis 31:37 and Josephus's use of adelphoi for relatives, it shows that when Mark 6:3 names James and Joses as Jesus' 'brothers,' the word can, and in context does, mean kinsmen.