What Does Nehemiah 12:34 Mean?
Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,THE KEY
The names turn a bare roster into compressed meaning: praise, son of the right hand, the LORD has heard, and the LORD raises.
THE MEANING
These names place praise, the son of the right hand, the LORD’s hearing, and the LORD’s raising together before you. Though the verse records no action, its names still carry meanings of praise, belonging, being heard, and being raised.
THE ROOT
שְׁמַעְיָה
Shema‘yah
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
Hear, listen, heed, or respond.
Shemaiah means “the LORD has heard.” The name carries hearing as attention, making the roster speak of being heard even though the verse gives no action.
ALSO GROWS
shama: Hear, listen, heed.
שָׁמַע
This verb gives Shemaiah its root sense: the LORD hears.
shomea: One who hears.
שֹׁמֵעַ
This form makes the root’s hearing an active quality carried by a person.
יְהוּדָה
Yehudah
GROWS FROM
ידה
yadah
Praise, thank, or acknowledge.
Judah’s name grows from the language of praise and acknowledgment. The name carries an act of giving thanks within the roster’s list of people.
ALSO GROWS
yadah: Praise, thank, acknowledge.
יָדָה
This verb is the seed of Judah’s name and keeps praise present inside it.
todah: Thanksgiving, praise.
תּוֹדָה
This noun from the same root shows praise as an expressed acknowledgment.
יִרְמְיָהוּ
Yirmeyahu
GROWS FROM
רום
rum
Rise, be high, or be exalted; the name is commonly understood as “the LORD raises” or “the LORD exalts.”
Jeremiah’s name is commonly linked to the root of rising and being exalted. It places the raising in the LORD’s nature, adding the sense of being lifted to the names beside it.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, exalted.
רָם
This form shows the elevated state contained in the root behind the name.
marom: Height, high place.
מָרוֹם
This branch gives the root a place of elevation, echoing the name’s sense of being raised.
THE PATTERN
A name in scripture can compress a nature or an encounter into a lasting word.
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Now I will extend my hands to the LORD. Therefore she called his name Judah, Praise, and she stood from bearing.And the messenger of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son, and you will call his name Ishmael, God-hears; for the LORD has heard and responded to your bending low.And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.THE THREAD
And the messenger of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son, and you will call his name Ishmael, God-hears; for the LORD has heard and responded to your bending low.Shemaiah carries the meaning “the LORD has heard,” from the Hebrew root שמע (shama, hear). Genesis 16:11 uses that same hearing root in Ishmael’s name and states plainly that the LORD has heard.
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