What Does Nehemiah 3:10 Mean?
Beside them Jedaiah son of Harumaph strengthened, facing his house. Beside him Hattush son of Hashabneiah strengthened.
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
And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabniah.THE KEY
The Hebrew word rendered “repaired” means “strengthened,” so restoration takes shape as neighbors reinforce adjoining sections beside a home.
THE MEANING
Shared restoration unfolds through neighboring people strengthening adjoining sections. One stretch faces a home, so the communal boundary and ordinary dwelling meet within the same repair.
THE ROOT
הֶחֱזִיק
heḥĕzîq
GROWS FROM
חזק
To be strong, make firm, strengthen, or take hold.
“strengthened” in this verse is heḥĕzîq. The verb translated “repaired” grows from the root for making strong and firm. The wall is restored as people give it renewed strength, section by section.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: Be strong; grow firm.
חָזַק
The related form names strength as a condition, showing the firmness the repair brings to the wall.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen; reinforce.
חִזֵּק
This active form shares the same seed as “repaired”: restoration is the act of giving something renewed strength.
יְדַעְיָה
Yedaʿyāh
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive.
Jedaiah joins yada, “to know,” with Yah: “Yah knows.” The name places knowing beside the hands-on work of strengthening the wall.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: Know; perceive.
יָדַע
This is the knowing carried in the name, adding recognition to the line of repair.
daʿat: Knowledge; knowing.
דַּעַת
The same root can name knowing itself, linking the worker’s name to a knowing presence.
חֲשַׁבְנְיָה
Ḥashabneyāh
GROWS FROM
חשב
To think, reckon, consider, or devise.
Hashabniah joins chashav, “to consider,” with Yah: “Yah has considered.” Alongside Jedaiah, “Yah knows,” the names place knowing and considered attention beside the work.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāshav: Think; reckon; consider.
חָשַׁב
The name carries the idea of consideration into a passage about concrete, shared labor.
maḥashavah: Thought; plan.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
The same root can describe a thought or plan, connecting consideration with work taking shape.
THE PATTERN
A shared structure becomes whole through adjoining contributions that are joined into one work.
So we built the wall, and all the wall was tied together to half of it, for the people had heart to work.For we are fellow workers with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.In whom the whole building, joined at the joints, grows into a set-apart temple in the Lord.THE THREAD
For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands will drop from the work, so that it is not done. Now therefore, O God, grip my hands.The same root, חזק (ḥ-z-q; ḥazaq, “strengthen”), appears in the plea “strengthen my hands.” The verse also describes hands dropping away from the work with רפה (raphah, “release; let the hands drop”), setting the wall’s restoration against the loss of strength that would stop it.
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