What Does Ezra 10:26 Mean in the King James?
And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.
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 bare roll call carries a hidden echo: Zechariah means “YHWH remembers,” so one name in the list speaks of remembrance.
THE MEANING
You meet six distinct names within a shared account, not an anonymous crowd. Mattaniah carries “gift of YHWH,” Zechariah “YHWH remembers,” and Abdi “my servant,” while the verse leaves each man’s inner life undescribed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A list does not make the people in it interchangeable: each name carries its own meaning, even when the verse gives no further account of the person.
THE ROOT
זְכַרְיָה
Zekharyah
GROWS FROM
זכר
z-k-r
remember; keep in mind
Zechariah means “YHWH remembers,” carrying the root זכר (z-k-r), “remember,” inside a name that English makes look like a label. The same root appears in words for remembrance and memorial, joining a person’s name to the act of keeping something in mind.
ALSO GROWS
zākhar: remember
זָכַר
This is the verb held within Zechariah’s name.
zikkārôn: remembrance, memorial
זִכָּרוֹן
This branch shows how remembering can be made present and preserved.
zēkher: remembrance, mention
זֵכֶר
A name itself can preserve what is remembered.
מַתַּנְיָה
Mattanyah
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, set, place
Mattaniah means “gift of YHWH,” formed from the giving-root נתן (n-t-n) and the divine name. The name carries the language of giving within a verse that otherwise offers only a short list.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: give, set, place
נָתַן
This verb is the root that gives Mattaniah its gift-language.
mattān: gift
מַתָּן
This noun makes explicit the giving held within the name.
עַבְדִּי
ʿAvdi
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
work, serve
Abdi means “my servant,” from the root עבד (ʿ-b-d), which holds both work and service. English presents a name; Hebrew lets the language of service remain audible inside it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvad: work, serve
עָבַד
This verb is the action beneath Abdi’s name.
ʿeved: servant
עֶבֶד
This noun shares the root and gives the name its sense of service.
ʿavodah: work, service
עֲבֹדָה
This branch shows the root extending from a person who serves to the work of serving.
THE PATTERN
A name can hold a person’s nature in compressed form, even when the surrounding text gives only a brief account.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.THE THREAD
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.Zechariah carries the Hebrew root זכר (z-k-r), “remember,” which also appears in Exodus when God remembers the covenant. In the middle of a stark list, that name quietly carries the language of remembrance, though this verse says nothing about what the man himself remembers.
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