What Does Ezra 2:11 Mean in the King James?

The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three.

Ezra 2:11 · KJV

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 word for “children” is linked with building: this is a household taking shape through each counted generation.

THE MEANING

The verse holds a community in view through its ancestral name and exact count. Belonging takes shape through particular lives joined to a shared household.

THE ROOT

בְּנֵי

benei

GROWS FROM

בנה

banah

To build, establish.

The word for “children,” benei, echoes ben, “son,” in a word family linked with building. English gives a family label; the Hebrew also hints at a household built out through its descendants, here counted as a real community.

ALSO GROWS

banah: To build, construct.

בָּנָה

The building root brings a household dimension to the word “children.”

binyan: Building, structure.

בִּנְיָן

A structure takes shape piece by piece, as this household appears in the verse through its counted members.

THE PATTERN

A dispersed people becomes visible as a community through gathering, naming, and counting its members.

Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;

Ezra 2:1 · KJVThe verse presents a people becoming visible again through those gathered and returned to their places.

And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

Jeremiah 23:3 · KJVScattered lives are gathered into a people that can grow again.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

Acts 1:15 · KJVA gathered assembly is made visible through the number of names held together.

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.

Psalm 127:1 · KJV

Psalm 127 uses the building root echoed by the word for “children.” Read together, the verses show a household as something built through its descendants, with its lasting strength held by the LORD.

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