What Does Ezra 10:34 Mean?

Of the sons of Bani, Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

Ezra 10:34 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

THE KEY

In Hebrew, “sons of Bani” echoes the root for building, making this genealogy sound like a household taking shape through named lives.

THE MEANING

You meet people as part of a lineage, but the record does not dissolve them into a family label: Maadai, Amram, and Uel remain individually named. The build-root beneath “sons of Bani” makes descent sound like a household taking shape through its members.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Belonging to a group makes a person anonymous and lets their part in a shared story disappear.

THE ROOT

בְּנֵי־בָנִי

bənê-Bānî

GROWS FROM

בנה

To build or establish; the root is traditionally linked to ⁨בֵּן⁩ (ben, “son”), carrying a family-building image.

“sons of Bani” in this verse is bənê-Bānî. The Hebrew phrase repeats the consonants of the build-root: ⁨בְּנֵי⁩ (bənê, “sons of”) stands beside ⁨בָּנִי⁩ (Bānî, “Bani”). English gives us a family label followed by a name; the Hebrew sound also suggests a line being built, while the names keep each person distinct.

ALSO GROWS

bānâ: To build, construct

בָּנָה

This is the root behind the building image that echoes in “sons of Bani.”

bēn: Son

בֵּן

The plural construct ⁨בְּנֵי⁩ (bənê, “sons of”) begins the verse’s family line and is traditionally associated with the build-root.

binyān: Building, structure

בִּנְיָן

This related word makes explicit the structure suggested by a line of descent.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes belonging visible by preserving lines of descent through named people.

This is the book of the births of Adam. In the day that God created the ground-being, in the likeness of God he made him.

Genesis 5:1 · SDVA record of generations frames human belonging through a named beginning.

Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the children of Pharez, the son of Judah.

1 Chronicles 9:4 · SDVA chain of names locates a person within a larger family line, as Ezra does with the sons of Bani.

The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 · SDVThe opening of Matthew makes identity visible through named descent.

THE THREAD

A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders toil in emptiness. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in emptiness.

Psalm 127:1 · SDV

The Hebrew root ⁨בנה⁩ (banah, “to build”) links the sons-language in this line with the psalm’s repeated “build.” Ezra’s genealogy makes descent sound like a household taking shape; Psalm 127 opens the other side of that image by naming what sustains a house.

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