What Does Nehemiah 7:22 Mean in the King James?

The children of Hashum, three hundred twenty and eight.

Nehemiah 7:22 · 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 Hebrew word for “children” carries the root of building: the count preserves a household’s living line.

THE MEANING

You see a people held together through a named family line: Hashum’s household has 328 descendants. The verse keeps name and number together, giving that line visible shape.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A count turns people into an anonymous mass. Here, the number remains attached to Hashum’s named household.

THE ROOT

בְּנֵי

benei sons or

GROWS FROM

בנה

to build

The word rendered “children” means sons or descendants, carrying a family line forward. Its connection to the root for building lets the count read as more than a total: it shows a household taking shape through its generations.

ALSO GROWS

banah: to build

בָּנָה

The root makes the family line sound like something built and carried forward.

ben: son or child

בֵּן

This singular form names the family member whose descendants together make up the counted line.

THE PATTERN

Scripture keeps a people visible by naming its lines and households.

And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

Genesis 46:8 · KJVThe family line is made visible through the names of its descendants.

But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

Isaiah 43:1 · KJVA people’s identity is held in a name that is spoken and known.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 · KJVThe opening of a Gospel makes a person’s lineage part of the story’s shape.

THE THREAD

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Psalm 127:3 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨בָּנִים⁩ (banim, sons or children), from ⁨בנה⁩ (banah, to build). Nehemiah counts the descendants of a named household; the Psalm calls children an inheritance, showing the family line as something carried forward.

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