What Does Nehemiah 12:38 Mean in the King James?
And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;
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 root behind “broad” also names spaciousness, so the city’s boundary carries an image of movement toward openness.
THE MEANING
You meet thanksgiving here as a moving company: one group walks, the speaker follows, and half the people move along the wall. Praise takes up space in the city and travels from the tower of the furnaces toward the broad wall. Gratitude is shared and embodied, not confined to an inward feeling.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that thanksgiving is only private: here it has a body, companions, and a route through public space.
THE ROOT
הַתּוֹדָה
hattodah
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
Acknowledge, give thanks, praise.
“gave thanks” in this verse is hattodah. Todah is not merely a passing emotion; it is an acknowledgment expressed as thanks or praise. Here, thanksgiving names the moving company itself, making gratitude communal and embodied.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving, praise, or a thanksgiving offering.
תּוֹדָה
This is the noun at the heart of the verse’s procession: thanksgiving becomes something the company carries together.
Yehudah: Judah, a name associated with praise.
יְהוּדָה
Genesis 29:35 links the name to Leah’s words, “now will I praise the LORD,” echoing the praise carried by this company.
הָרְחָבָה
harechavah
GROWS FROM
רחב
r-ḥ-b
Be wide; become spacious.
The word for “broad” belongs to the same root as merḥav, a spacious place. The procession reaches this breadth along the city wall, letting a physical boundary carry an image of openness.
ALSO GROWS
rechov: An open square or street.
רְחוֹב
This branch names a broad, shared urban space, resonating with the public route of the procession.
merḥav: A broad or spacious place.
מֶרְחָב
The same root appears in Psalm 118:5, where a person moves from distress into a large place.
THE PATTERN
Thanksgiving and praise take public, embodied form as they move through shared places.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.THE THREAD
I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.“A large place” translates מֶרְחָב (merḥav), from the same root רחב as the “broad” wall. Psalm 118 names a movement from distress into spaciousness directly, giving the wall’s literal width a resonance of release.
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