What Does Ezra 2:49 Mean?
The children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai.
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 Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai,THE KEY
Paseah’s name shares a Hebrew root that carries both “limp” and “pass over,” hiding an unexpected passage inside this family list.
THE MEANING
This verse keeps each family recognizable through its name. Uzza carries the sense of strength, while Paseah’s name comes from the root of limping; both lines remain named among the people.
THE ROOT
פָּסֵחַ
pāsēaḥ
GROWS FROM
פסח
A Hebrew root used for limping or hobbling, and also for passing over or sparing.
Paseah’s name carries the root’s sense of a limp, while the same consonants appear in the verb translated “pass over.” English turns the name into a label and hides this echo of passage.
ALSO GROWS
pāsaḥ: To limp or hobble.
פָּסַח
This is the root sense carried by Paseah’s name.
pāsaḥ: To pass over or spare.
פָּסַח
The same root appears in the Passover account, giving the name an unexpected connection to passage.
עֻזָּא
ʿUzzāʾ
GROWS FROM
עזז
To be strong or powerful.
Uzza carries the language of strength in its name. Beside Paseah, the verse preserves names with sharply different shades without collapsing either family into an anonymous crowd.
ALSO GROWS
ʿoz: Strength or might.
עֹז
This noun makes the strength carried by Uzza’s name audible.
ʿaz: Strong, fierce, or powerful.
עַז
This related form gives Uzza’s name the force of a quality, not merely a label.
THE PATTERN
A people remains visible when names and family lines are kept distinct.
Lift up the head of all the assembly of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, by the number of their names, every male, head by head.But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and who shaped you, O Israel. Do not fear, for I have bought you back; I have called you by your name; you are mine.To him the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hear and respond to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.THE THREAD
And the blood will be a mark for you upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will leap over you, and the blow will not be upon you to ruin you when I strike down the land of Egypt.The name Paseah carries the root פסח (pāsaḥ), which appears here in “pass over.” In Ezra the root remains inside a family name; in Exodus it names an action, opening a second shade in the name.
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