What Does Nehemiah 3:23 Mean?
After him Benjamin and Hashub strengthened, facing their house. After him Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, strengthened, by his house.
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
After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub over against their house. After him repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house.THE KEY
The shared wall gains strength right beside each home.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now of repair that reaches the place where you live: what is strengthened near your home belongs to a shared boundary. The names Azariah, “Yah helps,” and Maaseiah, “work of Yah,” hold aid and action together within this local labor.
THE ROOT
הֶחֱזִיקוּ
hecheziqu
GROWS FROM
חזק
chazaq
Be strong; strengthen; take hold.
“strengthened” in this verse is hecheziqu. The verb translated “repaired” also carries the sense of making strong or taking hold. This root joins repair to firmness: each section worked on beside a home helps the shared wall hold.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: Be strong; become firm.
חָזַק
This is the root’s basic force: the work described here makes the wall strong.
hecheziq: Strengthen; take hold; repair.
הֶחֱזִיק
This verb form appears in the verse, giving “repair” the sense of taking hold of a section and making it firm.
chizzeq: Strengthen; reinforce.
חִזֵּק
This branch makes explicit the strengthening carried within the English word “repaired.”
עֲזַרְיָה
Azaryah
GROWS FROM
עזר
azar
Help; aid.
Azariah means “Yah helps,” from the root for help and aid. The name places help beside the hands-on work of repairing the wall.
ALSO GROWS
azar: Help; give aid.
עָזַר
This is the root carried in Azariah’s name, joining the person’s name to help.
ezer: Help; aid.
עֵזֶר
This noun from the same root shows help as a form of support, fitting the shared work of strengthening the wall.
מַעֲשֵׂיָה
Ma'aseyah
GROWS FROM
עשה
asah
Do; make; act.
Maaseiah means “work of Yah,” from a root that means to do or make. His name sits within a verse where repair is made tangible through the labor of particular people beside their homes.
ALSO GROWS
asah: Do; make.
עָשָׂה
This root gives Maaseiah’s name its sense of action and making.
ma'aseh: Work; deed; action.
מַעֲשֶׂה
This related noun makes the root’s action concrete, echoing the work of repairing the wall.
THE PATTERN
The strength of a shared whole grows through particular acts of building and repair.
From above the horse gate the priests strengthened, each facing his house.For we are fellow workers with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.You also, as living stones, are built up into a house of breath, a set-apart priesthood, to carry up sacrifices of breath, well received by God through Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Thus says the LORD of hosts. Let your hands take hold, you who hear and respond to these words in these days, spoken by the mouth of the prophets in the day the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, so that the temple might be built.“Be strong” in Zechariah and “repaired” in Nehemiah grow from the same root. Nehemiah shows that strength taking shape through hands at work on the wall beside a home.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us