What Does Nehemiah 7:12 Mean in the King James?
The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.
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 line turns a distant name into a visible people: Elam’s children have an exact number.
THE MEANING
A name that carries remoteness is still held within a shared human record. Here, belonging takes concrete shape: children gathered under a name and given a count.
THE ROOT
עֵילָם
ʿÊlām
GROWS FROM
עלם
ʿ-l-m
To conceal or be out of sight; by extension, to be remote.
Elam’s name is traditionally associated with this root and the sense of remoteness. The verse makes that named people visible as a specific community, gathered into an exact count.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālam: To conceal or hide.
עָלַם
This root sense gives Elam’s name the shade of what is distant or hidden.
ʿolam: Age, a long span.
עוֹלָם
Its association with what lies beyond immediate sight echoes the sense of distance carried by Elam’s name.
בְּנֵי
bənê
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build or build up; the family word ben is traditionally connected with this root.
The word for children carries a connection to building: descendants are the living continuity through which a household takes shape. The count gives that continuity a visible, collective form.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son or child.
בֵּן
This is the singular family word behind bənê, “children of.”
banah: To build.
בָּנָה
Its shared root adds the image of a household being built through its children.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes belonging visible by naming people and giving their lives a place in the count.
Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.THE THREAD
And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.The children-word בְּנֵי (bənê, “children of”) is connected with בנה (banah, “build”), the root behind אִבָּנֶה (ʾibbāneh, “I may be built”) in this verse. The shared root lets descendants appear as the living continuity through which a household takes shape.
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