What Does Ezra 2:8 Mean in the King James?

The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty and five.

Ezra 2:8 · 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

A named family becomes part of the return through 945 counted lives, making restoration tangible.

THE MEANING

The verse places before you a named household whose 945 members make belonging concrete. A people is carried forward through lives counted together, not as an abstraction.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It unsettles the idea that a multitude is faceless: the count remains attached to a named family.

THE ROOT

בְּנֵי

bənê

GROWS FROM

בנה

b-n-h

To build or establish a house or structure.

⁨בְּנֵי⁩ (bənê, children) echoes the build-family of ⁨בָּנָה⁩ (bānāh, build): its b-n consonants connect descendants with the forming of a household. The count is more than a detached statistic; the named family takes shape through the people counted.

ALSO GROWS

bānāh: Build; establish.

בָּנָה

Its build-image makes the family count sound like a household taking shape through its members.

binyan: Building; structure.

בִּנְיָן

A structure is formed from parts, as this named family is visible through its counted members.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes a gathered people visible by naming or counting its members.

And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

Exodus 1:5 · KJVA family line is made visible as a counted household.

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 takes shape through named people and their households.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Acts 2:41 · KJVA gathered community becomes visible in the number added to it.

THE THREAD

And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.

Genesis 30:3 · KJV

Genesis uses ⁨וְאִבָּנֶה⁩ (ve’ibaneh, “that I may be built”) for the hope of having children. It makes the build-image explicit: a household is formed through its members, echoing the b-n sound in Ezra’s ⁨בְּנֵי⁩ (bənê, children).

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