What Does Nehemiah 7:6 Mean in the King James?
These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;
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
Hebrew names both “the exile” and “he exiled” with a root that also means “uncover,” and the return makes the displaced visible again, one city at a time.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into your present by naming forced displacement without making it the last word: each person returns to a city of their own. The crowd stays particular, each one remains visible and counted, and Jerusalem carries wholeness in its name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being uprooted means you no longer belong anywhere.
THE ROOT
הֶגְלָה
heglah
GROWS FROM
גלה
Uncover or reveal; in this word family, remove or send into exile.
“carried away” in this verse is heglah. The Hebrew calls the condition “exile” and says the king “exiled” the people with the same root, גלה. That root also means uncover or reveal, so the verse’s register gives the displaced people a visible return, person by person.
ALSO GROWS
galah: Uncover, reveal
גָּלָה
This branch carries the sense of something hidden being brought into view.
golah: Exile or the exiled community
גּוֹלָה
This is the word family used for “the exile” just before the verse says the king exiled them.
heglah: He deported or sent into exile
הִגְלָה
This is the form used for Nebuchadnezzar’s act of carrying the people away.
וַיָּשׁוּבוּ
wayyashuvu
GROWS FROM
שוב
Turn back, return.
“came again” in this verse is wayyashuvu. The people do not merely arrive somewhere new: the Hebrew says they turn back. The return reaches its completion in the detail “every one unto his city,” making restoration particular rather than anonymous.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn back, return
שׁוּב
This is the seed of the verb describing the people’s return.
teshuvah: Turning or return
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun preserves the same movement of turning back that shapes the verse.
meshiv: Restoring or bringing back
מֵשִׁיב
This form shows how return can also mean restoration.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
Be whole or complete; wholeness.
The name Jerusalem carries שָׁלוֹם (shalom), wholeness. The return reaches a destination whose name holds wholeness, while the verse also says each person returns to their own city.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
This branch gives the destination’s name its sense of wholeness.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This related form echoes the wholeness carried in Jerusalem’s name.
THE PATTERN
Return restores belonging by bringing displaced people back into view and into a place of their own.
A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.Psalm 126:1 echoes Nehemiah’s שׁוּב (shuv, “turn or return”): the same movement reaches all Zion there and each person’s city here. The Hebrew phrase שִׁיבַת צִיּוֹן (shivat Tsiyon, “the restoration of Zion”) carries that return-root too, joining release from displacement with coming back.
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