What Does Ezra 2:44 Mean?
The children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
The children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon,THE KEY
The word “children” carries the root of “build”: a people takes shape one named family line at a time.
THE MEANING
Belonging takes shape through named households, each holding a place in the larger people. The word “children” carries the image of building, so continuity appears as a community formed through its branches.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an obscure household disappears inside a people is undone here: even this family line is named.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
benei
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
to build or build up
The word translated “children” belongs to the same word family as “build.” That connection lets the family list read as more than descent: each named line is part of how a people takes shape.
ALSO GROWS
ben: son, child
בֵּן
This is the singular family word behind the verse’s “children,” tying belonging to the image of building.
banah: to build
בָּנָה
The verb makes the building image explicit: a lineage contributes to the structure of a people.
binyan: building, structure
בִּנְיָן
This noun carries the same root into the finished form: what is built through the people’s branches.
THE PATTERN
A community takes shape through people and households whose particular place remains visible within the whole.
The children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon.Behold, I have carved you upon the palms of my hands; your walls are always before me.But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not shrink, for you surpass many sparrows.THE THREAD
And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, the LORD has held me shut from bearing. Go in, I pray you, to my handmaid. Perhaps I may be built through her. And Abram heard and responded to the voice of Sarai.The phrase rendered “obtain children” comes from the same build root carried by “children” here. Genesis makes the wordplay visible: a family line is something built, and each named branch contributes to its shape.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us