Nehemiah 7:20 — Word Study
WLCבְּנֵ֣י עָדִ֔ין שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּֽׁה׃ ס
BSAthe descendantsbên [sons, children, or clan] of AdinʻÂdîyn [dainty or delicate, six hundred fifty and five, six hundred and fifty-five] 655shêsh
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| בְּנֵ֣י | [the] descendants of | Noun common, masculine plural construct |
| עָדִ֔ין | Adin | Noun proper masculine |
| שֵׁ֥שׁ | six | Adj |
| מֵא֖וֹת | hundred | |
| חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים | fifty | |
| 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 Adin, 655; |
| KJV | The children of Adin, six hundred fifty and five. |
| ASV | The children of Adin, six hundred fifty and five. |
| YLT | Sons of Adin: six hundred fifty and five. |
| WEB | The children of Adin: six hundred fifty-five. |
| BBE | The children of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five. |
Where they part company is over the rendering of the numbers — see How Translations Differ.
The structure is straightforward, with a main clause followed by a numeral phrase indicating 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 7:20
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 Census of Exilesgenerated
Nehemiah 7:20 records the number of descendants of various families returning from exile in Babylon. This verse specifically mentions the descendants of Adin, highlighting the organization and structure of the returning community. This census serves to establish the lineage and heritage of those who returned, which was important for maintaining tribal identities and roles within the restored community.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ezra 2:15 | the descendants of Adin, 454; |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 1 reference, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — בְּנֵי, be.Neigenerated
The word בְּנֵי (be.Nei) is a masculine plural noun derived from בֵּן (ben), meaning 'son' or 'child'. It is used here to denote descendants or members of a clan, emphasizing family lineage.
In this context, it captures the idea of a collective group descended from a common ancestor, which is essential for understanding the genealogical records in the Hebrew Bible.
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 governed by the noun phrase בְּנֵי עָדִ֔ין, the descendants of Adin, followed by a numeral phrase שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּֽׁה, 655. The structure is straightforward, presenting the family name followed by the count of descendants.
This simple structure emphasizes the importance of both the family lineage and the exact number of individuals, which is a common feature in genealogical lists.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates בְּנֵי as υἱοὶ (huioi), meaning 'sons' or 'children'. This choice aligns with the Hebrew meaning, emphasizing familial relationships.
The Greek translation does not include a direct equivalent for the number, indicating a potential difference in how the census was recorded or interpreted in the Greek context.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Nehemiah 7:20 lists the descendants of Adin, numbering 655. This verse is part of a larger census of families returning from exile, showing the importance of lineage in the restored community.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Adin means 'dainty' or 'delicate' and refers to a family of exiles who returned with Zerubbabel.
The count establishes the lineage and heritage of the returning exiles, which was crucial for maintaining tribal identities.
This verse contributes to the overall theme of restoration and organization of the Jewish community after the Babylonian exile.
Yes, Adin is mentioned in Nehemiah 10:16 as a chief who signed a covenant, indicating his significance in the community.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- How does understanding family lineage impact our view of community today?
- In what ways can we honor our ancestors and their contributions to our lives?
- What role does heritage play in shaping our identity?
- How can we apply the lessons from the census of Nehemiah to our own lives and communities?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Nehemiah 7:20 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 Adin, 655;
The children of Adin: six hundred fifty-five.
the descendants of Adin, 655;
the descendants of Adin, 655;
Tyndale line
The children of Adin, six hundred fifty and five.
The children of Adin, six hundred fifty and five.
The children of Adin, six hundred fifty and five.
The children of Adin, six hundred and fifty five.
The sonnes of Adin, sixe hundreth, and fiue and fiftie.
Strictly literal
The children of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five.
Sons of Adin: six hundred fifty and five.
sons of Adin, six hundred fifty-five;
The children of 'Adin, six hundred fifty and five.
The descendants of Adin, 655.
From the Latin
The children of Adin, six hundred fifty-five.
Simplified
The sons of Adin, 655.
The children of Adin, six hundred and fifty-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 generally agree on the content of this verse, with four of the six words matching between the two. The Septuagint's structure, however, differs, reflecting its own grammatical style.
בְּנֵ֣י עָדִ֔ין שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּֽׁה׃ ס
4 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 7:20
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…
עָדִין (Adiyn) refers to a personal name associated with two Israelites during the Exile and Return period. It is glossed as meaning 'dainty' or 'delicate' and is linked to a family of exiles who returned with Zerubbabel and a chief who signed the covenant with Nehemiah. The entries consistently focus on this individual's historical context without significant disagreement.
עָדִין n.pr.m.
returned exiles
a chief
base
H5720 עָדִין
5720 `Adiyn aw-deen'
the same as 5719; Adin, the name of two Israelites:--Adin.
see HEBREW for 05719
עָדִין (a.din) — Adin.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Ezr.2.15
§ Adin = "dainty" or "delicate"
1) ancestor of a family of exiles who returned with Zerubbabel
2) a chief among the returned exiles who signed the covenant with Nehemiah
עָדִין (a.din) — Adin.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Neh.10.16
§ Adin = "dainty" or "delicate"
1) ancestor of a family of exiles who returned with Zerubbabel
2) a chief among the returned exiles who signed the covenant with Nehemiah
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
a'-din (`adhin, "adorned"): The name of a family, "the sons of Adin" (Ezr 2:15; 8:6; Ne 7:20; 10:16; 1 Esdras 5:14; 8:32), mentioned among the returning exiles. The list in Ezr 2 is placed in the midst of the narrative concerning Zerubbabel, but its title and Its contents show that it also includes the later Jewish immigrants into Palestine. The list in Ne 7 is a duplicate of that in Ezr, but with variations; most of the variations are naturally accounted for by supposing that one copy was made later than the other and was brought up to date. In Ezr and 1 Esdras the number of the sons of Adin is said to be 454; in Ne it is 655. The 50 males, led by Ebed the son of Jonathan, who came with Ezr, may or may not have been included in the numbers just mentioned. Among the names of those…
Adin
Effeminate. (1.) Ezra 8:6. (2.) Neh. 10:16.
(dainty, delicate), ancestor of a family who returned form Babylon with Zerubbabel, to the number of 454, (Ezra 2:15) or 655 according to the parallel list in (Nehemiah 7:20) (B.C. 536.) They joined with Nehemiah in a covenant to separate themselves from the heathen. (Nehemiah 10:16) (B.C. 410.)
Adina, adorned; voluptuous; dainty
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
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.