Ezra 10:40 — Word Study
WLCמַכְנַדְבַ֥י שָׁשַׁ֖י שָׁרָֽי׃
BSAMachnadebaiMaknadbay△ [son of Bani] ShashaiShâshay△ [who had a foreign wife] SharaiShâray△ [an Israelite of the exile and return]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| מַכְנַדְבַ֥י | Machnadebai | Noun proper masculine |
| שָׁשַׁ֖י | Shashai | Noun proper masculine |
| שָׁרָֽי׃ | Sharai | Noun proper masculine |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, |
| KJV | Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, |
| ASV | Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, |
| YLT | Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai, |
| WEB | Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, |
| BBE | Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, |
The translations agree on the names listed in this verse.
The verse consists of a single main clause listing the names of individuals.
2 commentators on this verse
Ellicott, Cambridge & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
3 of 3 occur nowhere else in the Old Testament — words chosen on purpose.
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 — Ezra 10:40
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 Those Who Divorced Foreign Wivesgenerated
Ezra 10:40 presents a list of Israelites who were commanded by Ezra to put away their foreign wives as part of a return to covenant faithfulness after the Exile. This list highlights the challenges faced by the returning exiles in maintaining their identity and obedience to God's laws.
Cross References
The Key Word — מַכְנַדְבַי, makh.nad.Vaigenerated
The name מַכְנַדְבַי (makh.nad.Vai) refers to an Israelite mentioned in Ezra 10:40. It is a proper masculine noun derived from roots meaning 'liberal man' and signifies a figure who adhered to Ezra's directive to separate from a foreign spouse during the Exile and Return period.
The name's meaning, 'he brought low my willing ones,' suggests a narrative of humility or submission in the context of obeying God's commands. This reflects the broader theme of the exiles' return and the restoration of their covenant relationship with God.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
The translations agree on the names listed in this verse: Machnadebai, Shashai, and Sharai are consistently rendered across the BSB, KJV, ASV, YLT, WEB, and BBE.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of this verse is straightforward, comprising a noun phrase that lists the names of individuals. The finite verb is absent, as this is a list format typical in genealogical or historical accounts.
The Hebrew word order emphasizes the names themselves, presenting them as significant figures in the context of the Exile and Return.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates מַכְנַדְבַי as μαξναδαβου, שָׁשַׁי as σεσι, and שָׁרָי as σαρου. This choice reflects a direct correspondence to the Hebrew names, maintaining their identity while adapting to Greek phonetics.
The consistency in the names across the Hebrew and Greek texts suggests a shared understanding of these individuals' significance in the narrative.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Ezra 10:40 lists three Israelites: Machnadebai, Shashai, and Sharai. These men had to put away their foreign wives as part of returning to God's commands after the Exile.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
They were Israelites mentioned in Ezra 10:40 who had to divorce their foreign wives.
This was part of a larger effort to restore the covenant relationship with God after the Exile, as outlined by Ezra.
Machnadebai means 'he brought low my willing ones' and signifies a narrative of humility in obeying God's commands.
These names represent individuals who took a stand for covenant faithfulness during a critical time of restoration for Israel.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What challenges do I face in remaining faithful to my commitments, similar to the men in this passage?
- How can I better understand the importance of obedience to God's laws in my own life?
- In what ways can I support others in their journey of faith, especially when they face difficult decisions?
- What does this passage teach me about the importance of community in upholding God's commands?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Ezra 10:40 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18-44) List of the transgressors. (19) They gave their hands.—The four members of the high priest’s family were peculiarly dealt with. They gave their distinct pledge, and offered each a special trespass offering. It is one among a multitude of similar tokens of authenticity in the history; and inventor would have given some reason for the peculiarity. (22) Pashur.—Comparing Ezra 2:36-39, we find that all the priestly families that returned with Zerub-babel were implicated in the national offence. (25) Of Israel.—Of the laity eighty-six are mentioned, belonging to ten races which returned with Zerubbabel. (34) Bani.—Probably this should be some other name, as Bani occurs before. The…
Read Charles John Ellicott on Ezra 10 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges18–44. The List of those who ‘had married strange women’The record of the names was probably one of the documents officially preserved. The publicity of such a list was in itself a punishment to the offenders and a warning to others. As in chap. 2, the list falls into the three groups of Priests, Levites, and Israel (or Laity), i.e. 17 Priests, 10 Levites, 86 ‘of Israel’—113 in all.
Read Cambridge on Ezra 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
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Tyndale line
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai;
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Strictly literal
Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai,
Maknadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
From the Latin
And Mechnedebai, Sisai, Sarai,
Simplified
Macnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
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: מַכְנַדְבַי, שָׁשַׁי, and שָׁרָי. There are no variations in the names between these witnesses.
מַכְנַדְבַ֥י שָׁשַׁ֖י שָׁרָֽי׃
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 Ezra 10:40
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.
מַכְנַדְבַי (Maknadbay) refers to Machnadebai, an Israelite mentioned in Ezra 10:40. The name is derived from roots meaning 'liberal man' and is associated with a figure who put away his foreign wife during the Exile and Return period.
מַכְנַדְבַי n.pr.m. one of those who had strange wives Ezr 10:40
ref
H4367 מַכְנַדְבַי
4367 Maknadbay mak-nad-bah'-ee
from 4100 and 5068 with a particle interposed; what (is) like
(a) liberal (man)?; Maknadbai, an Israelite:--Machnadebai.
see HEBREW for 04100
see HEBREW for 05068
מַכְנַדְבַי (makh.nad.vay) — Machnadebai.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Ezr.10.40
§ Machnadebai = "he brought low my willing ones"
one of the sons of Bani who put away his foreign wife at Ezra's command
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
mak-nad'-e-bi, mak-na-de'-bi (makhnaddebhay): Son of Bani, one of those who married foreign wives (Ezr 10:40).
(what is like the liberal?), one of the sons of Bani who put away his foreign wife at Ezra’s command. (Ezra 10:40)
smiter
→ A Jew Ezr 10:40
שָׁשַׁי (Shashay) refers to a man named Shashai, noted in the context of the Exile and Return, specifically mentioned in Ezra 10:40. The name may mean 'noble' and is possibly derived from a root meaning 'whitish.' There is a suggestion of a connection to another Hebrew word, but the entries do not provide further details.
שָׁשַׁי n.pr.m. Jew with foreign wife Ezr 10:40
ref
H8343 שָׁשַׁי
8343 Shashay shaw-shah'-ee
perhaps from 8336; whitish; Shashai, an Israelite:--Shashai.
see HEBREW for 08336
שָׁשַׁי (sha.shay) — Shashai.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Ezr.10.40
§ Shashai = "noble"
a son of Bani who put away his foreign wife in the time of Ezra
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
sha'-shi (shashay; Sesei): One of the sons of Bani who had married foreign wives (Ezr 10:40) = "Sesis" in 1 Esdras 9:34.
(noble), one of the sons of Bani in the time of Ezra. (Ezra 10:40) (B.C. 457.)
rejoicing; mercy; linen
→ A descendant of Bani who put away (divorced) his Gentile wife Ezr 10:40
שָׁרָ֑י, transliterated as Sharay, refers to a man mentioned in the context of the Exile and Return, specifically in Ezra 10:40. The name is associated with the meaning 'releaser.' The entries indicate that he was a son of Bani who divorced his foreign wife during this period.
שָׁרָ֑י n.pr.m. one with foreign wife Ezr 10:40
ref
H8298 שָׁרָ֑י, שָׁרַי
8298 Sharay shaw-rah'-ee
probably from 8324; hostile; Sharay, an Israelite:--Sharai.
see HEBREW for 08324
שָׁרָ֑י (sha.ray) — Sharai.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Ezr.10.40
§ Sharai = "releaser"
a son of Bani who put away his foreign wife in the time of Ezra
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
sha-ra'-i, sha'-ri (sharay): One of the sons of Bani who had married foreign wives (Ezr 10:40).
(releaser), one of the sons of Bani. (Ezra 10:40) (B.C. 457.)
my lord; my prince; my song
→ A descendant of Bani, who put away (divorced) his Gentile wife Ezr 10:40