What Does Nehemiah 7:70 Mean?
And some of the heads of the fathers gave to the work. The governor gave to the storehouse a thousand darics of gold, fifty sprinkling bowls, and five hundred and thirty priestly tunics.
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 some of the chief of the fathers gave unto the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand drams of gold, fifty basons, five hundred and thirty priests’ garments.THE KEY
Here, leadership is not a title above the work; it is a hand that places resources into it.
THE MEANING
The work among you takes shape through what people place into it: leaders contribute wealth, vessels, and garments for a shared purpose. Devotion becomes visible as concrete provision held for the work and its service.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that sacred work is sustained by intention alone: here, it is supplied with material resources.
THE ROOT
נתן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, put, set, or place.
“gave” in this verse is natan. The same verb appears for giving to the work and giving to the treasury, joining generosity with the act of placing something into another’s keeping. Its family keeps that movement visible: what is given is placed into a shared purpose.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
A gift is something placed into another’s keeping, echoing the leaders’ concrete contributions.
netinah: Giving; a donation.
נְתִינָה
This noun from the same root names the act of giving that sustains the work.
THE PATTERN
Shared work takes tangible form when people place their resources into a common purpose.
The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman whose heart made them free-hearted to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.and set them down at the feet of the sent ones, and it was given out to each as anyone had need.Each one, as his heart has taken hold, so let him give, not from grief or from pressure, for God loves a glad giver.THE THREAD
But who am I, and what is my people, that we should hold the strength to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come from you, and from your hand have we given to you.The verb נתן (natan, to give or place) appears in both passages: here, leaders give resources to the work and treasury; there, the speaker says the people give from what already comes from God. The shared root opens giving as placing received resources into their next purpose.
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