tor

The word is a hapax at 1 Chronicles 17:17, in the clause ureitani ketor ha-adam ha-maalah. Strong's separates it (H8448) from the noun tor "plait, turn" of Song 1:10 to 11 and Esther 2:12, 15 (H8447) and glosses the Chronicles usage "estate"; BDB files the Chronicles form with the noun tor and marks the sense as uncertain, and DCH likewise records it as a disputed hapax. STEPBible's lexicon glosses it "border," which reflects the range of the neighbouring noun rather than the Chronicles context. Interpretation divides along two lines: (a) the noun denotes rank or station, with ha-maalah taken adjectivally, yielding "you have regarded me as a man of high rank" (the older English versions and most modern ones); (b) the noun denotes a succession, with ureitani understood causatively, yielding "you have shown me future generations" (the Revised Standard and English Standard versions). Both readings derive the noun from the root tur "go around, come round in turn," a derivation BDB supports by comparison with Akkadian taru "turn about," the same derivation that yields the Esther sense "turn" and the Song sense "plait, circlet." The text-critical question cannot be avoided, since the parallel prayer at 2 Samuel 7:19 reads wezot torat ha-adam, itself a celebrated crux; the two wordings cannot both be original, and the Chronicles commentators (Japhet, Williamson, Braun, Knoppers) and the Samuel commentators (McCarter) survey the options without reaching consensus. Kaiser's proposal that the Samuel line is a charter for humanity bears on that verse rather than on the Chronicles wording.