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

Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hattush.

Ezra 8:2 · 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 return carries more than people: it carries priestly inheritance and David’s line through named lives.

THE MEANING

Restoration is concrete here: named people carry priestly lineages and David’s house into the return. The verse speaks now wherever a new beginning carries an inheritance; renewal does not require becoming rootless.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A new beginning must erase what came before. This roster presents renewal as continuity carried forward through named lines.

THE ROOT

דָּוִד

Dāwīd

GROWS FROM

דוד

d-w-d

Beloved; kinsman.

The phrase “sons of David” is more than ancestry: the returning line carries a name rooted in belovedness. English gives the genealogy as a record of descent, while the name lets belonging and royal continuity sound together.

ALSO GROWS

dod: Beloved one; kinsman or uncle.

דּוֹד

The shared root joins David’s name to the language of beloved kin, adding belonging to the lineage named here.

dodim: Love; expressions of love.

דּוֹדִים

This related form appears in the language of love, showing how the root of David’s name holds both kinship and affection.

THE PATTERN

What survives rupture can carry a future through named generations.

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

Genesis 17:7 · KJVThe promise extends through generations, so the future is carried by those who come after.

And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;

Matthew 1:12 · KJVThe genealogy continues through the rupture of exile, keeping a line of descent visible.

When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

2 Timothy 1:5 · KJVWhat lives in one generation can be carried into another through named relationships.

THE THREAD

And the sons of Shechaniah; Shemaiah: and the sons of Shemaiah; Hattush, and Igeal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six.

1 Chronicles 3:22 · KJV

A Hattush also appears in this Davidic genealogy, illuminating Ezra’s brief notice of Hattush among David’s descendants. Across the two rosters, ancestry becomes a traceable human thread carried through generations.

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