What Does Nehemiah 5:16 Mean in the King James?

Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work.

Nehemiah 5:16 · 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

“Continued” means “held fast”: the verse pictures shared labor as a grip maintained, not a task merely left underway.

THE MEANING

The work continues, land is not purchased, and the workers gather where the labor is happening. The verse gives steadfastness a concrete shape: sustained attention to shared work, carried by many hands.

THE ROOT

הֶחֱזַקְתִּי

heḥezaqti

GROWS FROM

חזק

To be strong, become firm, or hold fast.

The Hebrew verb behind “continued” carries the sense of holding firmly to the work. It makes perseverance more than duration: the work is something held onto, a commitment kept in hand.

ALSO GROWS

ḥazaq: Be strong or become firm.

חָזַק

This branch shows the firmness contained in Nehemiah’s continuing commitment.

heḥeziq: Take hold of or hold firmly.

הֶחֱזִיק

This form makes the verse’s perseverance feel like an active grip on the shared work.

ḥizzeq: Make strong or strengthen.

חִזֵּק

The same root can describe strengthening what is already held to, linking perseverance with renewed firmness.

THE PATTERN

Shared work advances when commitment stays firm and many hands gather to it.

And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

Nehemiah 6:3 · KJVThe work continues because Nehemiah stays with it instead of being drawn away.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 · KJVThe verse locates the fruit of labor in people sharing the work.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58 · KJVSteadfastness and sustained labor keep a shared work moving.

THE THREAD

For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

Nehemiah 6:9 · KJV

The same root rendered “continued” here appears as “strengthen” in this verse. The link turns steadfast commitment into an image of strengthened hands staying with the work.

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