What Does Ezra 2:69 Mean?
They gave, according to their strength, into the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priestly garments.
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
They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pound of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments.THE KEY
The verse makes each giver’s capacity the measure of their contribution, so shared work grows through many different measures of giving.
THE MEANING
Shared work is sustained through contributions proportioned to each person’s capacity. Gold, silver, and garments gather into one store for the work and its service, making different measures common provision.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a contribution only matters when it matches someone else’s amount: the measure here is each giver’s capacity.
THE ROOT
נָתְנוּ
natnu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“gave” in this verse is natnu. The root holds giving together with setting or placing: what each person gives is placed into the work’s treasury. The verse ties that act to each giver’s capacity, so the shared provision can include contributions of different measures.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the root form behind “they gave,” framing the contribution as something placed into the shared work.
mattanah: Gift, a thing given.
מַתָּנָה
The gift grows from the same root as the act of giving, joining what is contributed to the act that places it there.
netinah: Giving, a donation.
נְתִינָה
This form makes the act of giving itself visible as a branch of the same root.
כְּכֹחָם
kechocham
GROWS FROM
כוח
k-w-ḥ
Strength, capacity, or power.
The phrase translated “after their ability” carries the sense of giving according to their strength or capacity. The verse’s measure is personal capacity, allowing distinct contributions to become part of one common provision.
ALSO GROWS
koach: Strength, capacity, power.
כֹּחַ
This is the basic word in the phrase, making the giver’s strength the measure of the contribution.
koḥot: Strengths, powers; the plural of koach.
כּוֹחוֹת
The plural form keeps the same root idea while naming strength in its several measures.
אוֹצָר
otsar
GROWS FROM
אצר
ʾ-ts-r
To store or gather into a reserve.
“treasure” in this verse is otsar. The gift enters an otsar, a treasury or storehouse. The word pictures provision gathered and held for the work, so individual contributions become a shared reserve.
ALSO GROWS
otsar: Treasury, storehouse, or treasure.
אוֹצָר
This is the word used for the place receiving what is given.
atsar: To store up or gather into a reserve.
אָצַר
The verb shows the gathering action carried by the treasury’s root.
THE PATTERN
Shared work is sustained as each contribution enters according to the giver’s capacity.
And they came, every one whose heart lifted him, and every one whom his breath made free-hearted, and they brought the LORD's lifted offering for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its serving, and for the set-apart garments.For if the leaning heart is there first, it is well received according to what one has, and not according to what one does not have.If anyone speaks, let them speak as the words of God. If anyone serves, let them serve by the strength God supplies, so that in all things God may be given weight through Jesus, the Anointed One, to whom belong the weight and the might for the ages of the ages. Amen.THE THREAD
But who am I, and what is my people, that we should hold the strength to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come from you, and from your hand have we given to you.Ezra’s “gave” and Chronicles’ “have given” share the Hebrew root נתן (natan), to give, set, or place. Chronicles opens the connection further by describing what is given as already coming from God’s hand.
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