What Does Ezra 2:66 Mean in the King James?
Their horses were seven hundred thirty and six; their mules, two hundred forty and five;
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 count preserves kinds of strength separately: the Hebrew word for “mules” is linked to a root meaning “to separate,” and their number stays distinct from the horses.
THE MEANING
The return includes the material means of movement, and each kind is given its own count. Restoration is embodied and specific here, with distinct capacities named rather than collapsed into a vague total.
THE ROOT
פִּרְדֵּיהֶם
pirdēhem
GROWS FROM
פרד
parad
to separate, divide
The Hebrew word for “mules,” פִּרְדֵּיהֶם (pirdēhem), is linked to פרד (parad), meaning “to separate” or “divide.” Its root echoes the verse’s careful distinction: the mules have their own count alongside the horses, rather than disappearing into one general total.
ALSO GROWS
parad: to separate or divide
פָּרַד
This verb gives the root’s basic sense, echoed in the verse’s separate count for mules.
hiphrid: to cause to separate, set apart
הִפְרִיד
This related form shows the root describing an active division, while the census preserves distinct categories.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes provision tangible by naming and counting what carries people or sustains them.
Their camels, four hundred thirty and five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.THE THREAD
Their horses, seven hundred thirty and six: their mules, two hundred forty and five:Nehemiah repeats the same animal counts, including the same Hebrew word for “mules,” פִּרְדִּים (peredim), linked to פרד (parad), “to separate.” The repeated line keeps the mules distinct in the record, carrying this verse’s careful accounting into another list.
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