What Does Ezra 2:65 Mean in the King James?

Beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.

Ezra 2:65 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Song is counted as part of a people’s shared life, not as an ornament outside it.

THE MEANING

The count names servants and maids, then numbers the singing men and women: this community is seen in both the work that sustains it and the voice it carries together. Song has a place among the things that make a people whole.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that only labor counts and song is surplus is overturned: singers are given a place in the community’s count.

THE ROOT

מְשֹׁרְרִים

meshorrerim

GROWS FROM

שׁיר

shir

Sing; make song.

The root ⁨שׁיר⁩ (shir, sing or song) joins the act of singing to the song itself. English can make the singers sound like an added detail, but the Hebrew root places their shared expression within the community being counted.

ALSO GROWS

shir: Song.

שִׁיר

The same root names the song itself, showing that the singers and the expression they carry belong to one connected idea.

yashir: Sang; will sing.

יָשִׁיר

In Exodus 15:1 this verb names the act of singing, showing the root’s movement from voice to song.

THE PATTERN

Song belongs to a people’s shared life, sounding after deliverance and even under confinement.

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Exodus 15:1 · KJVA people voices its shared life in song after deliverance.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.

Psalm 126:2 · KJVA people’s restoration becomes audible in shared singing.

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

Acts 16:25 · KJVSong remains part of shared life even when the singers are confined.

THE THREAD

And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Psalm 40:3 · KJV

The same root ⁨שׁיר⁩ (shir, song) connects Ezra’s named singers to the song placed in the mouth here. In both verses, song becomes a voice others can hear: it is counted among a people and shared beyond the singer.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us