Beriah

Beriah is a personal name borne by four distinct men in the Hebrew Bible. The name surfaces in tribal genealogies of Asher, Ephraim, and Benjamin, and again among the Gershonite Levites under David. Each occurrence is brief, and the figures share nothing beyond the name.

Beriah Son of Asher

The earliest Beriah is the fourth son of Asher in the household that descended into Egypt with Jacob. The migration list names him with his brothers and sister, and immediately attaches his own two sons: "And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel" (Gen 46:17). The same line is preserved in the wilderness census, where Beriah's descendants form a recognized clan: "of Beriah, the family of the Beriites" (Num 26:44), and "Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites" (Num 26:45). The Chronicler repeats the Asherite roster in the same order (1Ch 7:30).

Beriah Son of Ephraim

A second Beriah appears in the Chronicler's account of Ephraim's house. After raiders from Gath kill several of Ephraim's sons over a cattle dispute, Ephraim mourns, and a later son receives a name that memorializes the loss: "And he entered his wife, and she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son, and he named him Beriah, because it went evil on my house" (1Ch 7:23). The naming is etymological wordplay tied to the calamity reported in the surrounding verses (1Ch 7:20-22).

Beriah the Benjamite

A third Beriah is listed in the Benjamite genealogy of 1 Chronicles 8 as one of the heads of fathers' houses among the inhabitants of Aijalon: "and Beriah, and Shema, who were heads of fathers' [houses] of the inhabitants of Aijalon, who put to flight the inhabitants of Gath" (1Ch 8:13). The notice attaches him to a military reputation against Gath but supplies no narrative beyond the line itself.

Beriah the Gershonite Levite

The fourth Beriah appears in David's organization of the Levites. He is the youngest of the four sons of Shimei in the Gershonite line: "And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei" (1Ch 23:10). Because two of the brothers had few descendants, the household was consolidated for administrative purposes: "And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning" (1Ch 23:11).