Jabez

Biblical Account

Jabez appears only in 1 Chronicles 4:9–10. The chapter is a genealogy of the descendants of Judah. Most of the genealogy simply lists names, but a short narrative is attached to Jabez. The text does not identify his father or his relationship to the people listed before and after him.

The passage reports the following:

• Jabez was "more honourable than his brethren."
• His mother named him Jabez, "saying, Because I bare him with sorrow." The Hebrew name Jabez sounds similar to a word meaning "pain" or "sorrow."
• Jabez called on the God of Israel. He asked God to bless him and enlarge his "coast" (territory), and to let His hand be with him and keep him from evil, so that it would not grieve him.
• "And God granted him that which he requested."

In 1 Chronicles 2:55, Jabez appears as the name of a place where families of scribes lived. The relationship between this place and the man Jabez is unclear. Jabesh-gilead, mentioned in Judges and 1 Samuel, is a separate town whose name is a different Hebrew word.

Significance Within the Bible

Jabez's prayer is closely tied to the meaning of his name: a man whose name signifies pain asks to be spared from grief. Chronicles repeatedly records people who cried out to God or sought Him and received an answer (e.g., 1 Chronicles 5:20). Scholars read the Jabez narrative within this pattern. Jabez is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretations and Debates

• Identification with Othniel: Some Jewish traditions, including the Talmud, reportedly identified Jabez with Othniel, who appears in verse 13 of the same chapter. The biblical text itself makes no such claim.
• Meaning of "enlarge my coast": Many interpreters hold that in its original context the phrase refers to the boundaries of the land allotted to the tribe, that is, its inheritance. In preaching, the phrase is sometimes applied more broadly to the expansion of one's life and ministry.
• Debate over formulaic prayer: In 2000, the American author Bruce Wilkinson published The Prayer of Jabez, a book on this passage that was widely read in many countries, including South Korea. Supporters regard it as a model of faith that boldly asks God for blessing. Some critics in Reformed and evangelical circles objected that the book was received as a kind of formula, as though repeating a short prayer would guarantee blessing. They also raised concerns about its resemblance to prosperity theology.
• Stories that Jabez repeated this prayer daily, or accounts of the specific blessings he received, are embellishments not found in the text.

In the Korean Church

The prayer of Jabez is frequently used as a sermon text on the theme of prayer and answered prayer. In the early 2000s, as the Korean translation of The Prayer of Jabez gained wide readership, practices of committed prayer, in which this passage was prayed daily over a set period, emerged along with prayer groups devoted to it. "Jabez" is also used as the name of church groups and prayer meetings.