What Does Ezra 2:13 Mean in the King James?

The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.

Ezra 2:13 · 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

Here, 666 is first a headcount attached to a family name: the number does not stand alone.

THE MEANING

This verse holds a large number of people together with the name of the family they belong to. Your life, too, is more than a number: being counted can sit alongside being known and connected.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The number 666 does not carry the same meaning everywhere it appears; here it counts Adonikam’s children.

THE ROOT

אֲדֹנִיקָם

ʾAdoniqam

GROWS FROM

קום

q-w-m

Rise, stand, or be established.

Adonikam is commonly understood as “my lord has arisen,” with its final element drawn from ⁨קום⁩, the root for rising or standing. The verse gives the number 666 to a family identified by a name that carries this image of rising.

ALSO GROWS

qām: Rose or stood.

קָם

This form echoes the rising carried in the name Adonikam.

hēqîm: Raised up or established.

הֵקִים

The root connects the name’s rising with the idea of being set upright or made to stand.

maqōm: A place or standing place.

מָקוֹם

This branch shows how the root of standing also gives Hebrew a word for a place where one stands.

THE PATTERN

Being numbered does not erase particularity: scripture holds count and being known together.

He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.

Psalm 147:4 · KJVThe stars are counted and also called by name, joining number with particular identity.

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:7 · KJVBeing numbered is held together with personal worth.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

John 10:3 · KJVThe image of a gathered group still preserves each one as known by name.

THE THREAD

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

Psalm 113:7 · KJV

Adonikam is commonly read as “my lord has arisen,” ending in ⁨קום⁩ (q-w-m), the root behind “raiseth up.” Psalm 113:7 uses that same root for lifting the poor, opening the name in Ezra as an image of rising.

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