Ezra 2:13 — Word Study
WLCבְּנֵי֙ אֲדֹ֣נִיקָ֔ם שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שִׁשִּׁ֥ים וְשִׁשָּֽׁה׃ ס
BSAthe descendantsbên [sons, children, or posterity] of AdonikamʼĂdônîyqâm [my lord arose, six hundred sixty and six, six hundred sixty-six] 666shêsh
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| בְּנֵי֙ | [the] descendants of | Noun common, masculine plural construct |
| אֲדֹ֣נִיקָ֔ם | Adonikam | Noun proper masculine |
| שֵׁ֥שׁ | six | Adj |
| מֵא֖וֹת | hundred | |
| שִׁשִּׁ֥ים | sixty | |
| וְשִׁשָּֽׁה׃ ס | and six | Conjunction |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | the descendants of Adonikam, 666; |
| KJV | The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six. |
| ASV | The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six. |
| YLT | Sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six. |
| WEB | The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six. |
| BBE | The children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six. |
Where they part company is over the rendering of שֵׁשׁ — see How Translations Differ.
The structure is straightforward, presenting a noun phrase for the descendants, followed by a proper noun, and concluding with a numeral phrase representing their count.
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 — Ezra 2:13
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 — The Return from Exilegenerated
Ezra 2:13 is part of a genealogical list detailing the families that returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. It emphasizes the importance of lineage and the restoration of the community. This passage reflects the efforts to re-establish the nation of Israel and its heritage, as seen in other lists throughout Ezra and Nehemiah.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ezra 8:13 | from the later descendants of Adonikam, these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men; |
| 2 | Nehemiah 7:18 | the descendants of Adonikam, 667; |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 2 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — אֲדֹנִיקָם, 'a.Do.ni.Kamgenerated
The word אֲדֹנִיקָם (Adonikam) is a proper noun, referring to a specific individual who led a clan of Israelites returning from exile. The name means 'my lord arose', indicating a significant role in the community's restoration.
As a proper noun, it does not have the same grammatical flexibility as common nouns. It appears three times in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in genealogical contexts, highlighting the importance of family ties in Israel's history.
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 finite verb is absent, as this is a nominal phrase listing descendants. The structure is straightforward, presenting a noun phrase for the descendants, followed by a proper noun, and concluding with a numeral phrase representing their count.
The word order emphasizes the familial relationship first, followed by the name and the numerical count, typical of Hebrew genealogical lists.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, אֲדֹנִיקָם is rendered as αδωνικαμ, maintaining the name's integrity while adapting to Greek phonetics. This choice shows a direct transliteration rather than a translation, preserving the identity of the individual.
The LXX does not include the full numerical count as in the Hebrew, which may reflect a different emphasis or a loss of detail in transmission.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Ezra 2:13 lists the descendants of Adonikam, numbering 666. This verse is part of a larger record of families returning to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, emphasizing the importance of lineage.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Adonikam was an Israelite leader mentioned in Ezra who returned from exile, and his name means 'my lord arose'.
In this context, 666 simply represents the count of Adonikam's descendants returning to Jerusalem.
Genealogies establish heritage, identity, and the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel.
This verse is part of a broader effort in Ezra and Nehemiah to document the returning exiles and restore the community's identity.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can I learn about the importance of family and heritage from this verse?
- How does knowing the names and numbers of those who returned from exile impact my understanding of God's faithfulness?
- In what ways can I honor my own heritage and family history?
- How does this genealogical record encourage me to think about my place in my community?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Ezra 2:13 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryThe children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six. The children of Adonikam , [ 'Adoniyqaam (H140), lord of the enemy] (cf. Ezra 8:13; Nehemiah 7:18) - the same as Adonijah, my lord is Yahweh (Nehemiah 10:17).
Read Robert Jamieson on Ezra 2 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges13. Adonikam] This name appears in Nehemiah 10:16 as Adonijah.
Read Cambridge on Ezra 2 →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 Adonikam, 666;
The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six.
the descendants of Adonikam, 666;
the descendants of Adonikam: 666;
Tyndale line
The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.
The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.
The children of Adonikam six hundred sixty and six.
The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.
The sonnes of Adonikam, sixe hundreth, three score and sixe:
Strictly literal
The children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six.
Sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.
sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six;
The children of Adonilam, six hundred sixty and six.
The descendants of Adonikam: 666.
From the Latin
The children of Adonicam, six hundred sixty-six.
Simplified
the sons of Adonikam, 666;
The children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six.
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 provides the complete verse as recorded, while the Septuagint matches three of the six words, indicating some agreement but differing in structure and detail.
בְּנֵי֙ אֲדֹ֣נִיקָ֔ם שֵׁ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שִׁשִּׁ֥ים וְשִׁשָּֽׁה׃ 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 Ezra 2:13
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…
אֲדֹנִיקָם (Adoniyqam) means 'my lord has risen' and refers to a man associated with the return from exile, specifically mentioned in Ezra 2:13. The name is derived from the Hebrew words for 'lord' and 'to rise.' It denotes the head of an Israelite clan.
אֲדֹנִיקָם n.pr.m. (my lord has risen) head of family
base
H140 אֲדֹנִיקָם
140 'Adoniyqam ad-o-nee-kawm'
from 113 and 6965; lord of rising (i.e. high); Adonikam, the
name of one or two Israelites:--Adonikam.
see HEBREW for 0113
see HEBREW for 06965
אֲדֹנִיקָם (a.do.ni.qam) — Adonikam.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Ezr.2.13
§ Adonikam = "my lord arose"
the head of an Israelite clan who returned from exile
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
ad-o-ni'-kam ('adhoniqam, "my lord has risen up"): The name of a family of the returning exiles (Ezr 2:13; Ne 7:18). "The sons of Adonikam," men and women and children, numbered 666 according to the list as given in Ezr, but 667 according to the copy in Neh. Either included among these or in addition to them was the contingent that came with Ezr, "Ehphalet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males" (Ezr 8:13).
Adonikam
Whom the Lord sets up, one of those “which came with Zerubbabel” (Ezra 2:13). His “children,” or retainers, to the number of 666, came up to Jerusalem (8:13).
the Lord is raised
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 — 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.
שִׁשִּׁים (shishshiym) means 'sixty' in Hebrew. It is a numeral derived from the root associated with the number 8337. The term is used in various contexts in the Old Testament to denote the quantity of sixty, also referred to as 'three score.' There is an Aramaic equivalent, שִׁתִּין (shit.tin), which also means sixty.
שִׁשִּׁים 59 n.indecl. sixty
base
H8346 שִׁשִּׁים sixty
8346 shishshiym shish-sheem'
multiple of 8337; sixty:--sixty, three score.
see HEBREW for 08337
שִׁשִּׁים (shish.shim) — sixty.
sixty, three score
Aramaic equivalent: shit.tin (שִׁתִּין "sixty" H8361)
HAcmpa — HAcmpa
siks'-ti (shishshim; hexekonta).
See NUMBER.
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)
HC/Acbsa — ConjunctionHC/Acbsa