What Does Ezra 2:10 Mean in the King James?
The children of Bani, six hundred forty and two.
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
In Hebrew, “children of Bani” repeats the same consonants, b-n-y, so the family name is carried forward in the very word for its descendants.
THE MEANING
A community takes shape through particular families, each named and held within a larger whole. The count of 642 makes this household specific rather than anonymous.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי בָּנִי
bənê Bānî
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
to build, establish
The Hebrew wording, בְּנֵי בָּנִי (bənê Bānî, “children of Bani”), repeats the consonants ב־נ־י in “children” and the family name. The word בֵּן (ben, “son” or “child”) is traditionally linked with בָּנָה (banah, “to build”), so the English count also carries an image of a household continuing through its descendants.
ALSO GROWS
ben: son, child
בֵּן
The plural construct בְּנֵי (bənê, “children of”) names descendants; its traditional link to building casts them as the household’s continuation.
binyan: building, structure
בִּנְיָן
This branch names the built form itself, making the root’s building sense concrete in a verse that preserves a family within a larger people.
THE PATTERN
A people’s continuity is held in the names and generations of its households.
The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.Bani’s name is commonly associated with בנה (banah, “build”), the same root used when this verse says the LORD builds the house. The household list then reads alongside a building image: a people takes shape through each family carried forward.
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