What Does Ezra 2:35 Mean in the King James?

The children of Senaah, three thousand and six hundred and thirty.

Ezra 2:35 · 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 Hebrew word for “children” echoes the root for “build,” so this census also pictures a household taking shape through generations.

THE MEANING

Here, the people of Senaah appear as 3,630 descendants held together under one name. The Hebrew word translated “children” is related to a root meaning “build,” so the count also carries the image of a household taking shape through its generations.

THE ROOT

בְּנֵי

benei

GROWS FROM

בנה

banah

To build or establish.

The word for children, ⁨בְּנֵי⁩ (benei), is traditionally connected with ⁨בנה⁩ (banah), “to build.” That connection lets the census suggest more than descent: it shows a household taking shape through the people who belong to it.

ALSO GROWS

banah: To build.

בָּנָה

This is the root verb associated with the word for children, making the family count echo the act of building.

’ibbaneh: I may be built up.

אִבָּנֶה

In Genesis 16:2, Sarai uses this form when she says she may “obtain children”; the Hebrew says, literally, that she may be built up through Hagar.

THE PATTERN

A household becomes visible as its people are gathered and built together across generations.

And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

Genesis 16:2 · KJVThe phrase translated “obtain children” comes from ⁨בנה⁩ (banah), “build,” directly linking children with the forming of a household.

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 · KJVThe verse repeats the root ⁨בנה⁩ (banah), showing a house as something built through the lives gathered within it.

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:5 · KJVIts image of people built together as a house carries the same pattern of a community taking shape as one structure.

THE THREAD

And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

Genesis 16:2 · KJV

In Hebrew, Sarai’s “obtain children” is built from ⁨בנה⁩ (banah), “build,” the root echoed by the word for “children” in Ezra. The connection lets the census read as a record of a household built through its descendants.

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