Nehemiah 7:13 — Word Study
WLCבְּנֵ֣י זַתּ֔וּא שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת אַרְבָּעִ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּֽׁה׃ ס
BSAthe descendantsbên [sons, children, or family line] of ZattuZattûwʼ [an Israelite clan, eight hundred forty and five] 845shᵉmôneh
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| בְּנֵ֣י | [the] descendants of | Noun common, masculine plural construct |
| זַתּ֔וּא | Zattu | Noun proper masculine |
| שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה | eight | Adj |
| מֵא֖וֹת | hundred | |
| אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | forty | |
| וַחֲמִשָּֽׁה׃ ס | and five | Conjunction |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | the descendants of Zattu, 845; |
| KJV | The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five. |
| ASV | The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five. |
| YLT | Sons of Zattu: eight hundred forty and five. |
| WEB | The children of Zattu: eight hundred forty-five. |
| BBE | The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five. |
Where they part company is in the details of the genealogical listing, but the core meaning remains consistent across translations.
The structure is simple, consisting of a main clause followed by a numeral phrase that provides the count of descendants.
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 7:13
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 7:13 is part of a larger list that records the families who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. This section emphasizes the importance of lineage and community in the restoration of Israel. The mention of specific numbers highlights the organization and structure of the returning exiles, reflecting their identity as a people reestablishing themselves in their homeland.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ezra 2:8 | the descendants of Zattu, 945; |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 1 reference, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — בְּנֵ֣י, be.Neigenerated
The word בֵּן (ben) means 'son' or 'descendant' and can refer to a wide range of familial relationships, including grandsons and even metaphorical uses. Its parsing as a masculine plural construct indicates it refers to a group, in this case, the descendants of Zattu.
This term is foundational in Hebrew genealogies, establishing identity and inheritance. The connection to family lineage is essential, especially in the context of returning exiles, as seen in Nehemiah's record.
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 sentence structure is straightforward, with a main clause identifying the subject — בְּנֵ֣י זַתּ֔וּא — followed by a numeral phrase indicating the count of descendants. The simplicity of the structure reflects the listing nature of genealogical records.
The finite verb is implicit in the context, as the focus is on the identification of the descendants and their number, typical of genealogical entries.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, the term בְּנֵ֣י is rendered as υἱοὶ (G5207), which also means 'sons' or 'children'. This choice aligns closely with the Hebrew meaning, maintaining the familial aspect of the term.
The name זַתּ֔וּא is translated as ζαθουα, which shows a consistent approach to rendering proper names, though the exact meaning may not be preserved in translation.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Nehemiah 7:13 lists the descendants of Zattu, totaling 845 individuals. This record is part of the genealogy of those who returned from exile, emphasizing the importance of family lineage in the restoration of Israel.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
The descendants of Zattu were part of the Israelite community that returned from exile, specifically noted in the genealogies of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The number indicates the size of the clan and their contribution to the rebuilding of the community in Jerusalem after the exile.
Genealogies establish identity, inheritance, and the fulfillment of God's promises to His people, showing how families are connected to God's covenant.
This verse connects to other genealogical records in Ezra and Nehemiah, which document the return and restoration of the Israelite community, emphasizing their heritage.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What does it mean to be part of a community with a shared heritage, like the descendants of Zattu?
- How can understanding genealogies in the Bible enhance our understanding of God's promises?
- In what ways do our family histories shape our identities today?
- How can we honor our heritage while also looking forward to the future?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Nehemiah 7:13 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 Zattu, 845;
The children of Zattu: eight hundred forty-five.
the descendants of Zattu, 845;
the descendants of Zattu, 845;
Tyndale line
The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five.
The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five.
The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five.
The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty five.
The sonnes of Zattu, eight hundreth and fiue and fourtie.
Strictly literal
The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five.
Sons of Zattu: eight hundred forty and five.
sons of Zattu, eight hundred forty-five;
The children of Zatthu, eight hundred forty and five.
The descendants of Zattu, 845.
From the Latin
The children of Zethua, eight hundred forty-five.
Simplified
The sons of Zattu, 845;
The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five.
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 show agreement in the overall structure, though only three of the six words in the Hebrew are matched in the Greek translation. The differences reflect the translation choices rather than textual variations.
בְּנֵ֣י זַתּ֔וּא שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת אַרְבָּעִ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּֽׁה׃ 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 7:13
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…
זַתּוּא (zat.tu) refers to Zattu, a man and head of a family of exiles who returned from Babylon during the time of Zerubbabel. He is mentioned in Ezra 2:8 and Nehemiah 10:14. The name Zattu is noted to mean 'brightness of him,' though its derivation is uncertain.
זַתּוּא n.pr.m. head of a family of returned exiles
base
H2240 זַתּוּא
2240 Zattuw' zat-too'
of uncertain derivation; Zattu, an Israelite:--Zattu.
זַתּוּא (zat.tu) — Zattu.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Ezr.2.8
§ Zattu = "brightness of him"
a family of exiles who returned with Zerubbabel
זַתּוּא (zat.tu) — Zattu.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Neh.10.14
§ Zattu = "brightness of him"
a family of exiles who returned with Zerubbabel
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
zat'-u (zattu', meaning unknown): Head of a large family that returned with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem from Babylon (Ezr 2:8; 10:27; Ne 7:13; 10:14 (15)). According to Ezr 10:27, some of his sons had married foreign wives, and Zattu is named in Ne 10:14 as one of the chiefs who signed Nehemiah's covenant. Septuagint A also adds the name before that of Shecaniah in Ezr 8:5, and so we should read, "And of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah .... "; so 1 Esdras 8:32 has Zathoes. the King James Version has "Zatthu" in Neb 10:14.
The sons of Zattu were a family of laymen of Israel who returned with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:8; Nehemiah 7:13)
שְׁמֹנֶה (shmoneh) means 'eight' and can also denote 'eighth' as an ordinal number. It is derived from the idea of plumpness, suggesting a surplus beyond seven, which is considered a perfect number. The term appears in various contexts, including combinations with other numbers.
שְׁמֹנֶה, (less oft. שְׁמוֹנֶה), שְׁמֹנָה 109 n.m. et f. eight
base
H8083 שְׁמֹנֶה, (less oft. שְׁמוֹנֶה), שְׁמֹנָה eight
8083 shmoneh shem-o-neh'
or shmowneh {shem-o-neh'}; feminine shmonah {shem-o-naw'}; or
shmownah {shem-o-naw'}; apparently from 8082 through the idea
of plumpness; a cardinal number, eight (as if a surplus above
the "perfect" seven); also (as ordinal)
eighth:--eight((-een, -eenth)), eighth.
see HEBREW for 08082
שְׁמֹנֶה (she.mo.neh) — eight.
1) eight, eighth
1a) eight (as cardinal number)
1b) eighth (as ordinal number)
1c) in combination with other numbers
Adj — AdjHAcbsa
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.
אַרְבָּעִים (arba`iym) simply means 'forty' in Hebrew. It is a multiple of the number 702 and is consistently defined across various lexicons. There are no significant disagreements among the entries regarding its meaning.
אַרְבָּעִים a forty
base
H705 אַרְבָּעִים a forty
705 'arba`iym ar-baw-eem'
multiple of 702; forty:---forty.
see HEBREW for 0702
אַרְבָּעִים (ar.ba.im) — forty.
forty
HAcmpa — HAcmpa
חָמֵשׁ (chamesh) means 'five' in Hebrew. It serves as both a cardinal number and can indicate a multiple of five when combined with another number. The word also has an ordinal form, 'fifth.' The entries consistently define this numeral without any noted disagreement.
חָמֵשׁ, חֲמִשָּׁה 342 n.m. and f. five
base
H2568 חָמֵשׁ, חֲמִשָּׁה five
2568 chamesh khaw-maysh'
masculine chamishshah {kham-ish-shaw}; a primitive numeral;
five:--fif(-teen), fifth, five (X apiece).
חָמֵשׁ (cha.mesh) — five.
1) five
1a) five (cardinal number)
1b) a multiple of five (with another number)
1c) fifth (ordinal number)
HC/Acbsa — ConjunctionHC/Acbsa
fiv (chamesh; pente).
See NUMBER.