Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageNow Jabez was more honored than his brothers, and his mother had named him Jabez, saying, 'Because I bore him in pain.'
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GNow Ya'betz was more honoured than his brothers, and his mother had called his name Ya'betz, saying, 'Because I bore him in great pain.'
KJV
King James VersionAnd Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleNow Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”
Footnotes
The name *Ya'betz* (יַעְבֵּץ) is a deliberate wordplay on *otsev* (עֹצֶב) — pain, toil, or grief — the same root used of Elohim's curse on the ground after the Fall (Genesis 3:17: *be'itsavon*). He was branded at birth with hardship, his very name a scar. Yet *nikbad* (נִכְבָּד), 'honoured,' shares its root with *kavod* (כָּבוֹד) — divine weight and glory — setting up the chapter's central reversal: the pain-named man carries glory. FOG adds 'great' to capture the emphatic weight of the naming moment; FOG Message preserves the stark simplicity of the original Hebrew.
