What Does Ezra 10:16 Mean in the King James?
And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The root ב־ד־ל (badal, separate or distinguish) marks Ezra and the named household heads as a distinct body set apart to examine the matter.
THE MEANING
A grave communal question is given a named body of inquiry: Ezra and household heads are set apart, sit down, and investigate. The surrounding passage identifies the matter as sending away foreign wives and children, so family rupture is at stake. Examination gives the issue attention; it does not make that cost vanish.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The separated group in this sentence is Ezra and the named household heads; the surrounding passage separately identifies wives and children as those to be sent away.
THE ROOT
וַיִּבָּדְלוּ
wayyibbadelu
GROWS FROM
בדל
To separate, divide, or distinguish; in this form, to be set apart.
“were separated” in this verse is wayyibbadelu. The root holds separation and distinction together. Here the men are distinguished as a group, and the next clause shows the purpose: they sit down to investigate.
ALSO GROWS
hivdil: To separate or distinguish.
הִבְדִּיל
Genesis 1:4 uses this verb for distinguishing light from darkness; here, the named group is distinguished for a particular inquiry.
nivdal: Set apart; distinct.
נִבְדָּל
This branch keeps separation connected to a defined role, illuminating the men set apart to examine the matter.
לִדְרוֹשׁ
lidrosh
GROWS FROM
דרש
To seek, inquire, or pursue an answer.
“examine” in this verse is lidrosh. The word carries active seeking, not a passing look. The group sits down to pursue the matter, giving the inquiry time and attention.
ALSO GROWS
derishah: Inquiry or investigation.
דְּרִישָׁה
This noun keeps the verse’s examination connected to deliberate seeking.
midrash: Exposition or interpretive study.
מִדְרָשׁ
This branch shows the root extending from seeking into sustained interpretation of what is being examined.
הַדָּבָר
ha-davar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; the noun can mean a word, thing, or matter.
English ‘matter’ sounds separate from speech, while davar can name both a word and a thing. The inquiry concerns a concrete affair, not an abstraction detached from what has been said or done.
ALSO GROWS
devarim: Words, things, or matters.
דְּבָרִים
This plural preserves the word-and-thing range of the matter being examined.
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken branch shows the same root joining speech with the matter at hand.
THE PATTERN
A grave claim is tested through deliberate inquiry before it is treated as settled.
Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.THE THREAD
Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;The command ‘enquire’ uses a form of דָּרַשׁ (darash, seek or inquire), the same root behind Ezra’s ‘to examine.’ One verse calls for a claim to be pursued until its truth is tested; the other shows a named group sitting down to do that work.
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