What Does Ezra 2:33 Mean in the King James?

The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and five.

Ezra 2:33 · 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

Restoration takes shape town by town, as named communities become visible in the count.

THE MEANING

This verse makes belonging concrete: people are counted as a community rooted in a particular place. Their return is part of a larger whole, while their distinct identity remains visible.

THE ROOT

בְּנֵי

bənê

GROWS FROM

בנה

b-n-h

Build, establish.

The word for “children” is traditionally linked to the root meaning “build.” This gives the list an added resonance: a community is carried forward and rebuilt through its people, town by town.

ALSO GROWS

bēn: Son, child.

בֵּן

This is the singular related noun behind the verse’s word for “children,” naming people as members of a continuing community.

bānāh: Build, establish.

בָּנָה

This verb gives the family its building sense: the counted people are not an abstract crowd but a community rooted in named places.

binyan: Building, structure.

בִּנְיָן

This related noun echoes the idea of a community as something formed and sustained across generations.

THE PATTERN

Restoration takes shape as scattered people are gathered back into named communities.

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 return is recorded through people who come back to their own cities, making restoration specific and local.

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

Nehemiah 7:6 · KJVThe gathered people are again described as returning to their own cities, preserving their distinct places within the whole.

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 11:12 · KJVThe scattered are gathered from far away, expressing restoration as a return to belonging.

THE THREAD

The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and one.

Nehemiah 7:37 · KJV

Nehemiah repeats the same three towns in its returnee list, but records 721 people rather than Ezra’s 725. The shared roster shows the place-based pattern of return, while the differing count leaves the distinct records visible.

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