What Does Ezra 10:4 Mean in the King James?
Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
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
A matter can be yours to carry without being yours to carry alone.
THE MEANING
A responsibility can rest on you without leaving you by yourself in it. The strength spoken here is joined to action: others stand with you as the matter moves from decision into doing. The verse holds both truths at once, the responsibility is yours, and the presence around you is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it dissolves is that being responsible means carrying the whole weight alone.
THE ROOT
חֲזַק
chazaq
GROWS FROM
חזק
חזק (chazaq): be strong or firm; strengthen.
“be of good courage” in this verse is chazaq. The command is חֲזַק (chazaq, be strong), a word of firmness as well as strength. Placed between “we also will be with thee” and “do it,” that firmness carries responsibility into action with companionship close around it.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Be strong; become firm.
חָזַק
The root describes becoming firm, not only feeling brave.
chizzeq: Strengthen; make strong.
חִזֵּק
The root also names strengthening another, echoing the people’s promise to stand with Ezra.
הַדָּבָר
hadavar
GROWS FROM
דבר
דבר (davar): speak; word, matter, or thing.
The Hebrew noun הַדָּבָר (hadavar, the matter) belongs to דבר (davar, speak; word or matter): the same word can name speech, an affair, or a thing. English “matter” can sound like a detached problem, while the Hebrew keeps the spoken word and the matter itself connected, something voiced and answerable now.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The verse’s “matter” shares its Hebrew word with “word,” holding what is spoken and what must be addressed together.
dibber: Spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root keeps speech within the word for the matter at hand.
THE PATTERN
When a task rests on one person, presence and shared burden make action possible.
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.THE THREAD
And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.The same pair of commands appears here: חֲזַק (chazaq, be strong) and עֲשֵׂה (asah, do). Its promise that God “will be with thee” opens Ezra’s “we also will be with thee” further: strength and action are surrounded by presence.
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