What Does Nehemiah 7:54 Mean in the King James?

The children of Bazlith, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,

Nehemiah 7:54 · 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 repeated “children of” quietly links descent with building: Hebrew connects the word for a son with the building of a household.

THE MEANING

Your belonging is not abstract: the verse holds a people together by naming households within their lineages. Even a brief entry like this gives each family a place in the community’s remembered shape.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that only prominent names belong in the record: these households are named and retained as part of the people.

THE ROOT

בְּנֵי

bənê

GROWS FROM

בנה

Build, establish.

⁨בְּנֵי⁩ (bənê, “sons of” or “children of”) is the plural construct of ⁨בֵּן⁩ (ben, “son”), a word traditionally linked with ⁨בָּנָה⁩ (banah, “to build”). That connection lets the genealogy’s language resonate with a household being built through its generations.

ALSO GROWS

ben: Son.

בֵּן

This is the singular word behind ⁨בְּנֵי⁩, the repeated “children of” in the verse.

banah: Build, establish.

בָּנָה

Its link with ben gives the family line the added resonance of a household being built.

binyan: Building, structure.

בִּנְיָן

This related word makes visible how a people’s structure is carried through its households.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes a people visible by tracing it through named households and generations.

Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

Exodus 1:1 · KJVThe names are presented through households arriving together, so family is the unit by which this people appears.

Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;

Ezra 2:1 · KJVA returning community is listed by its family groups and places, echoing the household lines in this verse.

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

Matthew 1:1 · KJVA person’s identity is placed within named generations, carrying the lineage pattern into the Gospel.

THE THREAD

A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psalm 127:1 · KJV

The Hebrew ⁨בְּנֵי⁩ (bənê, “children of”) comes from ⁨בֵּן⁩ (ben, “son”), traditionally linked to ⁨בָּנָה⁩ (banah, “build”); Psalm 127 uses that same root for building. This list traces households through named lines, and the psalm names the house as the structure being built.

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