Nehemiah 10:7 — Word Study
WLCמְשֻׁלָּ֥ם אֲבִיָּ֖ה מִיָּמִֽן׃
BSADanielDânîyêʼl GinnethonGinnᵉthôwn BaruchBârûwk
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| מְשֻׁלָּ֥ם | Meshullam | Noun proper masculine |
| אֲבִיָּ֖ה | Abijah | Noun proper masculine |
| מִיָּמִֽן׃ | Mijamin | Noun proper masculine |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, |
| KJV | Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, |
| ASV | Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, |
| YLT | Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, |
| WEB | Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, |
| BBE | Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, |
The translations agree on the names listed in this verse.
The verse consists of a single main clause listing three names without additional modifiers.
2 commentators on this verse
Jamieson, Cambridge & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Nehemiah 10:7
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The List of Names in Nehemiahgenerated
Nehemiah 10:7 lists the names of individuals who were part of the community returning from exile and involved in the restoration of Jerusalem. This verse is part of a larger section that emphasizes the importance of these individuals in the rebuilding efforts and the re-establishment of the Jewish community.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nehemiah 3:6 | The Jeshanah Gate was repaired by Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah. They laid its beams and installed its doors, bolts, and bars. |
| 2 | Nehemiah 8:4 | Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for this occasion. At his right side stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, and at his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. |
| 3 | Nehemiah 11:11 | Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of the house of God; |
| 4 | Nehemiah 12:13–25 | of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; |
| 5 | Nehemiah 12:4 | Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah, |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 7 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — מְשֻׁלָּם, me.shu.Lamgenerated
The name מְשֻׁלָּם (Mshullam) is a proper masculine noun meaning 'friend.' It is a common name among Israelites, appearing in various contexts throughout the Old Testament, particularly during the post-exilic period when the community was being restored.
Meshullam is noted for being a part of the community that returned from exile, highlighting the significance of friendship and community ties in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This name appears in several genealogical lists, indicating the importance of lineage and identity during this time.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of the verse is straightforward, presenting a noun phrase that lists three individuals: מְשֻׁלָּם, אֲבִיָּה, and מִיָּמִן. Each name is a proper noun, indicating specific individuals within the community.
This simple structure emphasizes the importance of each name in the context of the community's restoration efforts, with no additional clauses or modifiers complicating the message.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates מְשֻׁלָּם as δανιηλ, which may reflect a different tradition or interpretation of the name. This choice indicates a potential shift in understanding or emphasis in the Greek translation.
The Greek rendering does not carry the same meaning as 'friend,' suggesting a different contextual understanding for the audience of the Septuagint.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Nehemiah 10:7 lists three names: Meshullam, Abijah, and Mijamin. These individuals were part of the community that returned from exile and played a role in the restoration of Jerusalem.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
They were individuals mentioned in the context of the return from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Meshullam means 'friend' and is a common name in the Bible.
These names represent the individuals who contributed to the restoration efforts of the Jewish community after the exile.
Abijah is associated with several figures, including a king of Judah and a son of Samuel.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can we learn from the names listed in this verse about community and identity?
- How do the names Meshullam, Abijah, and Mijamin reflect the history of the Jewish people?
- In what ways can we honor the contributions of those who came before us in our own communities?
- How does understanding the significance of names in the Bible enhance our reading of the text?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Nehemiah 10:7 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentarySeraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, No JFB commentary on these verses.
Read Robert Jamieson on Nehemiah 10 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges3–8, Priests: 9–13, Levites: 14–28, Chiefs of the peopleThe 21 names here given are those of the priestly houses. The list of Neh 12:1-3 agrees with it in 16 names. The number 21 is peculiar; in chap. 12 the number is larger by one. In Ezra 2, Nehemiah 7, only four priestly houses are recorded, viz. Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur and Harim, as having returned with Zerubbabel. Pashur is mentioned in Nehemiah 10:3; Harim in Nehemiah 10:5. The other priestly families had either developed themselves out of these first four, or had arrived from time to time from Babylon. That 21 and not 24 are recorded, is noteworthy. Various conjectures have been hazarded, e.g. that names have dropped out from the…
Read Cambridge on Nehemiah 10 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Tyndale line
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin;
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abiiah, Miamin,
Strictly literal
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
(10:8) Meshullam, Abiyah, Miyamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
From the Latin
Mosollam, Abia, Miamin,
Simplified
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree on the names listed in this verse, confirming the consistency of the text across these traditions.
מְשֻׁלָּ֥ם אֲבִיָּ֖ה מִיָּמִֽן׃
3 of the 3 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Nehemiah 10:7
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
מְשֻׁלָּם (Mshullam) is a Hebrew name meaning 'friend.' It refers to several individuals in the Old Testament, including a grandfather of Shaphan, a son of Zerubbabel, and various Benjamites and Levites involved in rebuilding Jerusalem. The name appears in contexts related to the Divided Monarchy and post-exilic restoration, notably in 2 Kings 22:3 and Ezra 10:29.
מְשֻׁלָּם n.pr.m.
grandfather of Shaphan
son of Zerub.
in Benj.
in Gad
wall-builders
a chief
H4918 מְשֻׁלָּם
4918 Mshullam mesh-ool-lawm'
from 7999; allied; Meshullam, the name of seventeen
Israelites:--Meshullam.
see HEBREW for 07999
מְשֻׁלָּם (me.shul.lam) — Meshullam.
A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 2Ki.22.3;
father of: Azaliah (H0683)
§ Meshullam = "friend"
1) grandfather of Shaphan, the scribe
2) son of Zerubbabel
3) a Benjamite of the sons of Elpaal
4) a Benjamite, father of Sallu
5) a Benjamite who lived at Jerusalem after the captivity
6) a Benjamite
6a) perhaps the same as 3 or 4
7) a Gadite in the reign of king Jotham of Judah
8) son of Berechiah who assisted in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem
9) son of Besodeiah who assisted Jehoiada the son of Paseah in restoring the old gate of Jerusalem
10) a chief of the people who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah
11) father of Hilkiah and high priest probably in the reign of king Amon of Judah
11a) perhaps the same as 'Shallum'
12) a priest, son of Meshillemith or Meshillemoth, son of Immer, and ancestor of Maasiai or Amashai
HNpm — Noun proper masculineHNpm
Meshullam
Befriended. (1.) One of the chief Gadites in Bashan in the time of Jotham (1 Chr. 5:13).
(2.) Grandfather of Shaphan, “the scribe,” in the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 22:3).
(3.) A priest, father of Hilkiah (1 Chr. 9:11; Neh. 11:11), in the reign of Ammon; called Shallum in 1 Chr. 6:12.
(4.) A Levite of the family of Kohath (2 Chr. 34:12), in the reign of Josiah.
(5.) 1 Chr. 8:17.
(6.) 1 Chr. 3:19.
(friend). Ancestor of Shaphan the scribe. (2 Kings 22:3) The son of Zerubbabel. (1 Chronicles 3:19) A Gadite in the reign of Jotham king of Judah. (1 Chronicles 5:13) A Benjamite, of the sons of Elpaal. (1 Chronicles 8:17) A Benjamite, father of Sallu. (1 Chronicles 9:7; Nehemiah 11:7) A Benjamite who lived at Jerusalem after the captivity. (1 Chronicles 9:8) The same as Shallum, who was high priest probably in the reign of Amon, and father of Hilkiah. (1 Chronicles…
peaceable; perfect; their parables
The Hebrew word אֲבִיָּ֫הוּ (*Abiyah*) means 'father of Jah' and is associated with several figures in the Old Testament. It refers to a king of Judah, the second son of Samuel, and others, including a woman and a man from the tribe of Benjamin. The name is linked to the meaning 'Jehovah is (my) father'.
אֲבִיָּ֫הוּ n.pr.m. & f. (Yah(u) is (my) father)—so † 2 Ch 13:20, 21 = אֲבִיָּם † 1 K 14:31 15:1, 7, 7, 8 (𝔊 Ἀβιου, Ἀβια); = אֲבִי † 2 K 18:2 (𝔊 Ἀβου, Ἀβουθ); = אֲבִיָּה 1 S 8:2 22 t.—
king of Judah, son & successor of Rehoboam
2nd son of Samuel
son of Jerob.
son of Becher, a Benjamite
head of a priestly house
id.
wife of Hezron
mother of Hezekiah
base
H29 אֲבִיָּ֫הוּ
29 'Abiyah ab-ee-yaw'
or prolonged Abiyahuw {ab-ee-yaw'-hoo}; from 1 and 3050;
father (i.e. worshipper) of Jah; Abijah, the name of several
Israelite men and two Israelitesses:--Abiah, Abijah.
see HEBREW for 01
see HEBREW for 03050
אֲבִיָּה (a.viy.yah) — Abijah.
A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of United Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Sa.8.2;
son of: Samuel (H8050);
brother of: Joel (H3100)
§ Abia or Abiah or Abijah = "Jehovah is (my) father"
second son of Samuel
אֲבִיָּה (a.viy.yah) — Abijah.
A man of the Kingdom of Israel, living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ki.14.1;
son of: Jeroboam (H3379);
brother of: Nadab (H5070H)
§ Abia or Abiah or Abijah = "Jehovah is (my) father"
1) king of Judah, son and successor of Rehoboam
2) second son of Samuel
3) son of Jeroboam the first, king of Israel
4) son of Becher, a Benjamite
5) head of a priestly house (one of the 24 Levite groups)
6) head of a priestly house (after the exile)
7) wife of Hezron
8) mother of Hezekiah (cf H021)
אֲבִיָּ֫הוּ, אֲבִיָּה (a.viy.yah) — Abijah.
HNpm — Noun proper masculineHNpm
Abijah
Father (i.e., “possessor or worshipper”) of Jehovah. (1.) 1 Chr. 7:8. (2.) 1 Chr. 2:24.
(3.) The second son of Samuel (1 Sam. 8:2; 1 Chr. 6:28). His conduct, along with that of his brother, as a judge in Beer-sheba, to which office his father had appointed him, led to popular discontent, and ultimately provoked the people to demand a royal form of government.
(4.) A descendant of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, a chief of one of the twenty-four orders into which the priesthood was divided by David (1 Chr. 24:10). The order of Abijah was one of those which did not return from the Captivity (
1. Called, in Lu 1:5, Abia; founder of a family among the posterity of Aaron. When David divided the priests into twenty-four courses, to perform the temple-service, in turn, the eighth class was called after him, 1Ch 24:10. To this class of course Zacharias belonged.
2. Son of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. He died young, and much beloved and lamented, for in him there was found some good thing towards the Lord, 1Ki 14:1-18
3. Son of Rehoboam, the first king of Judah; called in, 1Ki 22:53, Abijam. He came to the throne A.M. 3046, and reigned only three years. In war with Jeroboam he gained a signal victory, 2Ch…
the Lord is my father
מִיָּמִן (Miyamin) is a Hebrew name meaning "from the right hand." It refers to several individuals, notably a priestly figure during the Divided Monarchy and Exile, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 24:9 and Ezra 10:25. The name is associated with various roles, including a chief priest and one who signed a covenant with Nehemiah.
מִיָּמִן, מִיָמִין, מִנְיָמִן, מִנְיָמִין n.pr.m.
priestly name
one of those who took strange wives
base
H4326 מִיָּמִן, מִיָמִין, מִנְיָמִן, מִנְיָמִין
4326 Miyamin me-yaw-meem'
a form for 4509; Mijamin, the name of three
Israelites:--Miamin, Mijamin.
see HEBREW for 04509
מִיָּמִן (miy.ya.min) — Mijamin.
A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ch.24.9
§ Miamin or Mijamin = "from the right hand"
1) chief of the 6th course of priests established by David
2) a priest who signed the covenant with Nehemiah
3) a priest who went up with Zerubbabel
4) a priest who took a foreign wife in the time of Ezra
מִיָּמִן (miy.ya.min) — Mijamin.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Ezr.10.25
§ Miamin or Mijamin = "from the right hand"
1) chief of the 6th course of priests established by David
2) a priest who signed the covenant with Nehemiah
3) a priest who went up with Zerubbabel
4) a priest who took a foreign wife in the time of Ezra
מִיָּמִן (miy.ya.min) — Mijamin.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Neh.10.7; also called Miniamin at Neh.12.17;
HNpm — Noun proper masculineHNpm
mij'-a-min (miyamin; the King James Version Miamin):
(1) One of those who had married foreign wives (Ezr 10:25). He is also called Maelus (1 Esdras 9:26).
(2) The one to whom fell the lot for the 6th priestly course (1Ch 24:9). His family returned with Zerubbabel and Joshua (Ne 12:5).
(3) A signatory of the Covenant (Ne 10:7).
(from the right hand). The chief of the sixth of the twenty-four courses of priests established by David. (1 Chronicles 24:9) A family of priests who signed the covenant with Nehemiah; probably the descendants of the preceding. (Nehemiah 10:7)
right hand