What Does Nehemiah 7:6 Mean?
These are the children of the province, who went up out of exile, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and turned back to Jerusalem and to Judah, each to his city;
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
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 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.
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.
“turned back” 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 return of Zion, we were like dreamers.And say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them from every side, and bring them into their own ground.For this son of mine was dead, and is living again; he had lost his way, and is found." And they began to be glad.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the return of Zion, we were like dreamers.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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