Nehemiah 7:10 — Word Study
WLCבְּנֵ֣י אָרַ֔ח שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וּשְׁנָֽיִם׃ ס
BSAthe descendantsbên [children, sons] of ArahʼÂrach [a personal name, an Israelite, six hundred fifty and two, six hundred and fifty-two] 652shêsh
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| בְּנֵ֣י | [the] descendants of | Noun common, masculine plural construct |
| אָרַ֔ח | Arah | Noun proper masculine |
| שֵׁ֥שׁ | six | Adj |
| מֵא֖וֹת | hundred | |
| חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים | fifty | |
| וּשְׁנָֽיִם׃ ס | and two | Conjunction |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | the descendants of Arah, 652; |
| KJV | The children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two. |
| ASV | The children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two. |
| YLT | Sons of Arah: six hundred fifty and two. |
| WEB | The children of Arah: six hundred fifty-two. |
| BBE | The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two. |
Where they part company is in the rendering of the number — see How Translations Differ.
The sentence is straightforward, with a main clause followed by a numeral phrase indicating the count.
2 commentators on this verse
Jamieson, Ellicott & 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 7:10
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 — Genealogy of Those Who Returned from Exilegenerated
Nehemiah 7:10 lists the descendants of Arah, showing the number of people who returned from exile. This genealogical record is part of a larger account of the restoration of the Jewish community in Jerusalem after their return from Babylonian captivity. It highlights the importance of lineage and family in the rebuilding of the nation, as seen throughout the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nehemiah 6:18 | For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. |
| 2 | Ezra 2:5 | the descendants of Arah, 775; |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 2 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — בְּנֵי, be.Neigenerated
The word בֵּן (ben) means 'son' or 'descendant' and encompasses a wide range of meanings, including grandchildren and members of a tribe. Its usage reflects family relationships and inheritance, emphasizing the continuity of lineage.
In this verse, it indicates the descendants of Arah, showing their connection to the larger community of returning exiles. The plural form indicates a group, reinforcing the idea of a family or clan.
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 main clause is centered around the noun phrase בְּנֵי אָרַח, the descendants of Arah, which serves as the subject of the verse. The numeral phrase שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וּשְׁנָֽיִם 652 acts as the predicate, providing the count of the descendants.
The structure is straightforward, with the subject followed by the numerical count, reflecting a common format in genealogical listings.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates בְּנֵי as υἱοὶ (huioi), meaning 'sons' or 'children', which aligns closely with the Hebrew meaning of descendants.
However, the name אָרַח is rendered as ηρα in the Septuagint, indicating a consistent identification of the individual but differing in transliteration.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Nehemiah 7:10 lists the descendants of Arah, numbering 652. This verse is part of a genealogical record that documents the families who returned to Jerusalem after the exile, emphasizing their lineage and connection to the community.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Arah is a personal name referring to an Israelite mentioned in the genealogies, indicating a family line that returned from exile.
Genealogies establish identity, heritage, and the fulfillment of God's promises to His people, often linking individuals to significant historical events.
According to Nehemiah 7:10, there were 652 descendants of Arah who returned from exile.
The number signifies the size of Arah's family or clan that returned, reflecting the overall population of those who came back to Jerusalem.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What does this genealogy teach us about the importance of family and heritage in our faith?
- How can we see God's faithfulness in the stories of those who returned from exile?
- In what ways can we honor our own family histories while also looking forward to the future?
- How does understanding the context of these genealogies enhance our reading of Scripture?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Nehemiah 7:10 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryThese 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
Read Robert Jamieson on Nehemiah 7 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5-73) The genealogical reckoning of the people, as the first step towards increasing the population of the metropolis, is determined on, not without express Divine suggestion; the allusion to this inspiration from God, is, as in Nehemiah 2:12, very emphatic. The original register of Zerubbabelis found and copied. The express language of both Ezra and Nehemiah makes it plain that this is no other than the list of those who came up with Zerubbabel and Joshua after the decree of Cyrus, in B.C. 538. Nehemiah’s own census follows, in Nehemiah 11. The exposition, especially as compared with Ezra 2, has been given on that chapter.
Read Charles John Ellicott on Nehemiah 7 →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
the descendants of Arah, 652;
The children of Arah: six hundred fifty-two.
the descendants of Arah, 652;
the descendants of Arah, 652;
Tyndale line
The children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two.
The children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two.
The children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two.
The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty two.
The sonnes of Arah, sixe hundreth fiftie and two.
Strictly literal
The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two.
Sons of Arah: six hundred fifty and two.
sons of Arah, six hundred fifty-two;
The children of Arach, six hundred fifty and two.
The descendants of Arah, 652.
From the Latin
The children of Area, six hundred fifty-two.
Simplified
the sons of Arah, 652;
The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two.
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 basic structure of the verse, though the Septuagint presents a different word order and some variations in transliteration. The core details about the descendants remain consistent.
בְּנֵ֣י אָרַ֔ח שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וּשְׁנָֽיִם׃ ס
3 of the 6 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 7:10
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.
בֵּן (ben) means 'son' or 'male child' and encompasses a wide range of meanings, including descendants, young animals, and even figurative uses like sparks or arrows. It can refer to members of a tribe or class and is used in various contexts throughout the Old Testament, such as in 1 Chronicles 24:26. The word is derived from a root meaning 'to build' and implies a connection to family or lineage.
בֵּן 4870 n.m. son
son, male child, born of a woman
children (male and female)
youth, young men
the young of animals
of plant shoots
fig. of lifeless things, sparks, stars, arrows
member of a guild, order or class
of animals son of (the) herd
ב׳ as n. relat. followed by word of quality, characteristic, etc.
n. relat. of age
base
בְּנוֹ 1 Ch 24:26, 27 as n.pr.m. in AV, RV, but render: the sons of Jaaziah his son, & the sons of Merari by Jaaziah his son, cf. VB & Be Öt.
done
H1121a בֵּן son . son, male child, born of a woman
. children (male and female)
. youth, young men
. the young of animals
. of plant shoots
. fig. of lifeless things, sparks, stars, arrows
. . member of a guild, order or class
. of animals son of (the) herd
. ב׳ as n. relat. followed by word of quality, characteristic, etc.
. n. relat. of age
H1121b בְּנוֹ as n. pr. m. in AV, RV, but render: the sons of Jaaziah his son, & the sons of Merari by Jaaziah his son
1121 ben bane
from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the
widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship,
including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition,
etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-)
(Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to,
(+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born,
bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X
came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of
first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, +
kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+)
people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, +
spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous
one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.
see HEBREW for 01129
see HEBREW for 01
see HEBREW for 0251
בֵּן (ben) — son: child.
: child/son
בְּנוֹ (be.no) — Beno.
A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Ch.24.26;
son of: Jaaziah (H3269);
brother of: Shoham (H7719), Zaccur (H2139I) and Ibri (H5681)
§ Beno = "his son"
the sons of Jaaziah and the sons of Merari by Jaahziah (his son)
בֵּן (ben) — son: descendant/people.
: descendant, people, tribe, nation
A sub-meaning of ben (בֵּן ": child" H1121)
§ : child/son
בֵּן (ben) — son: young animal.
: calf/lamb/young(ANIMAL)
A sub-meaning of ben (בֵּן ": child" H1121)
§ : descendant
בֵּן (ben) — son: type of.
: rebel/son(Belial)
A sub-meaning of ben (בֵּן ": child" H1121)
§ : people/men/nation/tribe
בֵּן (ben) — son.
: [inheriting]son/heir
A sub-meaning of ben (בֵּן ": child" H1121)
בֵּן (ben) — son: warrior.
: warrior/son(strong)
N-mp — Noun common · masculine plural constructHNcmpc
ov:
(1) In Anglo-Saxon, had the meaning "from," "away from" (as the strengthened form "off" has still), and was not used for genitive or possessive relations, these being expressed by special case-forms. In the Norman period, however, "of" was taken to represent the French de (a use well developed by the time of Chaucer), and in the Elizabethan period both senses of "of" were in common use. But after about 1600 the later force of the word became predominant, and in the earlier sense (which is now practically obsolete) it was replaced by other prepositions. In consequence the King James Version (and in some cases the Revised Version (British and American)) contains many uses of "of" that are no longer familiar--most of them, to be sure, causing no difficulty, but there still being a few responsible for real obscurities.
OF, preposition ov. [Gr.]
1. From or out of; proceeding from, as the cause, source, means, author or agent bestowing.
I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you. 1 Corinthians 11:1.
For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. Joshua 11:1.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
Lamentations 3:1.
The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Proverbs 16:1.
Go, inquire of the Lord for me. 2 Chronicles 34:2.
That holy thing that shall be born of thee. Luke 1:1.
Hence of is the sign of the genitive case, the case that denotes production; as the son of man, the son proceeding from man, produced from man. This is the primary sense, although we now say, produced by man. 'Part of these were slain; ' that is, a number separate, for part denotes a division; the sense then is, a number from or out of the whole were slain. So also, 'some of these were slain; ' that is…
אָרַח (Arach) refers to a name meaning "traveller" and is associated with three individuals from the tribe of Asher during the time of the Exile and Return. The entries indicate that Arah is noted as a head of a family of returning exiles, appearing in 1 Chronicles 7:39, Ezra 2:5, and Nehemiah 6:18.
אָרַח n.pr.m. (traveller?)
a man of Asher
head of family of returning exiles
base
H733 אָרַח
733 'Arach aw-rakh'
from 732; way faring; Arach, the name of three Israelites:
Arah.
see HEBREW for 0732
אָרַח (a.rach) — Arah.
A man of the tribe of Asher living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ch.7.39;
son of: Shual (H7777B);
brother of: Hanniel (H2592H) and Rizia (H7525)
§ Arah = "traveller"
1) a man of Asher
2) the prominent head of a family of returning exiles
3) another returned exile
אָרַח (a.rach) — Arah.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Ezr.2.5
§ Arah = "traveller"
1) a man of Asher
2) the prominent head of a family of returning exiles
3) another returned exile
אָרַח (a.rach) — Arah.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Neh.6.18;
father of: Shecaniah (H7935M)
§ Arah = "traveller"
1) a man of Asher
2) the prominent head of a family of returning exiles
3) another returned exile
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
a'-ra ('arach, "traveler"?):
(1) The son of Ulla, an Asherite (1Ch 7:39).
(2) The head of a family that returned from the exile with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:5; Ne 7:10). He is sometimes identified with Arah of Ne 6:18 whose grand-daughter became the wife of Tobiah, the Ammonite who tried to thwart Nehemiah in rebuilding Jerusalem.
(wayfaring). An Asherite, of the sons of Ulla. (1 Chronicles 7:39) The sons of Arah returned with Zerubbabel in number 775 according to (Ezra 2:5) but 652 according to (Nehemiah 7:10) (B.C. 536.) One of his descendants, Shechaniah, was the father-in-law of Tobiah the Ammonite. (Nehemiah 6:18)
the way; a traveler
The Hebrew word שֵׁשׁ, transliterated as shesh, means 'six' and can function as both a cardinal and ordinal number, indicating the sixth position. It is a primitive number that signifies an excess beyond five, as noted in the entries. The Aramaic equivalent is שֵׁת (shet).
שֵׁשׁ, שִׁשָּׁה 216 n.m. et f. six
base
H8337 שֵׁשׁ, שִׁשָּׁה six
8337 shesh shaysh
masculine shishshah {shish-shaw'}; a primitive number; six
(as an overplus (see 7797) beyond five or the fingers of the
hand); as ord. sixth:--six((-teen, -teenth)), sixth.
see HEBREW for 07797
שֵׁשׁ (shesh) — six.
1) six
1a) six (cardinal number)
1b) sixth (ordinal number)
1c) in combination with other numbers
Aramaic equivalent: shet (שֵׁת "six" H8353)
Adj — AdjHAcbsc
מֵאָה (me'ah) means 'hundred' in Hebrew. It can refer to a simple number, a component of a larger number, or a fraction representing one one-hundredth. The entries consistently describe its use as a numeral without significant disagreement.
מֵאָה 583 n.f. hundred
as simple number
as part of larger number
a hundredth part
base
H3967 מֵאָה hundred . as simple number
. as part of larger number
. a hundredth part
3967 me'ah may-aw'
or metyah {may-yaw'}; properly, a primitive numeral; a
hundred; also as a multiplicative and a
fraction:--hundred((-fold), -th), + sixscore.
מֵאָה (me.ah) — hundred.
1) hundred
1a) as simple number
1b) as part of larger number
1c) as a fraction-one one-hundredth (1/100)
Aramaic equivalent: me.ah (מְאָה "hundred" H3969)
HAcfpa — HAcfpa
hun'-dred (me'-ah; hekaton).
See NUMBER.
חֲמִשִּׁים (chamishshiym) means 'fifty' and is a cardinal number. It can also refer to a multiple of fifty or the ordinal number 'fiftieth.' The entries consistently define it as a numerical term without significant variation.
חֲמִשִּׁים 164 n.pl. (a) fifty
base
H2572 חֲמִשִּׁים (a) fifty
2572 chamishshiym kham-ish-sheem'
multiple of 2568; fifty:--fifty.
see HEBREW for 02568
חֲמִשִּׁים (cha.mish.shim) — fifty.
1) fifty
1a) fifty (cardinal number)
1b) a multiple of fifty (with other numbers)
1c) fiftieth (ordinal number)
HAcmpa — HAcmpa
שְׁנַ֫יִם (shnayim) means 'two' and serves as both a cardinal and ordinal number. It can denote 'both,' 'double,' or 'twice,' and is used in various combinations with other numbers. The word is derived as a dual form of שָׁנָה (shanah), which relates to the concept of pairs.
שְׁנַ֫יִם, שְׁתַּיִם 768 n.m. et f. du. two
base
H8147 שְׁנַ֫יִם, שְׁתַּיִם two
8147 shnayim shen-ah'-yim
dual of 8145; feminine shttayim {shet-tah'-yim}; two; also
(as ordinal) twofold:--both, couple, double, second, twain, +
twelfth, + twelve, + twenty (sixscore) thousand, twice, two.
see HEBREW for 08145
שְׁנַ֫יִם (she.na.yim) — two.
1) two
1a) two (the cardinal number)
1a1) two, both, double, twice
1b) second (the ordinal number)
1c) in combination with other numbers
1d) both (a dual number)
HC/Acbda — ConjunctionHC/Acbda
too.
See NUMBER.