What Does Nehemiah 7:16 Mean in the King James?
The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and eight.
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 for “children” shares its root with “build,” so this count pictures a family line being built forward across generations.
THE MEANING
This verse presents belonging as something carried through a household and made visible among the gathered people. The 628 descendants stand under a shared family name, held within a continuing line.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Belonging is only individual, with no shared lineage holding people together.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
bənê
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build or establish.
The Hebrew word for “children” is connected to the root meaning “to build.” Each generation carries the family line forward, so the 628 are counted as a people held together through that continuity.
ALSO GROWS
banah: To build, establish.
בָּנָה
This is the root verb behind the word for children; the count evokes a household built across generations.
ben: Son, child.
בֵּן
The singular form names a child as part of the family line that the verse counts.
THE PATTERN
Belonging is carried through named family lines and made visible in the wider community.
The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three.And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.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.The phrase “have children” translates a form of בנה (banah), “to build”: literally, “that I may be built up by her.” Nehemiah’s count of Bebai’s children carries that same image of a family line built forward through descendants.
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