Irnahash is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Irnahash appears in the genealogies of the tribe of Judah, recorded in 1 Chronicles 4:12. According to the source note, Irnahash was a town in the territory of Judah. In the King James text, however, the name is attached to a person: “And Eshton begat Bethrapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Irnahash. These are the men of Rechah.” The phrase “the father of Irnahash” follows the common genealogical pattern in Chronicles, where “father” may denote either a literal ancestor or the founder of a settlement or clan. Read alongside the source note, Tehinnah is best understood as the founder or namesake associated with the town of Irnahash.
The setting is the extensive tribal record of Judah in 1 Chronicles 4, a passage that preserves the families and settlements of the southern kingdom. These lists anchored real communities in Israel’s history, showing how land and lineage were bound together after the exile. Irnahash belongs to this register of places and people tied to Judah’s inheritance.
What Scripture says of Irnahash is brief. Apart from this single verse, the name appears nowhere else in the King James Bible. No deed, word, or character trait is recorded. The verse simply links Tehinnah to Irnahash and closes by noting, “These are the men of Rechah,” identifying the group with a place called Rechah. Irnahash thus stands as a name preserved in a family line, a small but fixed point in Judah’s genealogical memory.
The Name
The name Irnahash is a compound Hebrew name. Its second element, *nachash*, is well established in Hebrew and means “serpent” or “snake.” The first element is less certain; it may relate to a word for “city” or “town,” which would make the name mean something like “city of the serpent” or “serpent town.” Because the first element is not clearly recoverable, the full meaning cannot be stated with confidence. What can be said plainly is that the name contains the Hebrew word for serpent, and the source note identifies Irnahash as a town in Judah.
A Closing Thought
Most of us will never be remembered in a genealogy, let alone one preserved for thousands of years. Irnahash is a name we know almost nothing about—a town, a founder, a single line in a long list. Yet God saw fit to keep it. The quiet, unremarkable places and people of His people are not forgotten by Him. If your life feels like a footnote, take heart: the One who numbers the stars also records the small towns and ordinary families of His own.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 4:12 — And Eshton begat Bethrapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Irnahash. These are the men of Rechah.