Ezra 2:14 — Word Study
WLCבְּנֵ֣י בִגְוָ֔י אַלְפַּ֖יִם חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וְשִׁשָּֽׁה׃ ס
BSAthe descendantsbên [sons, children, or posterity] of BigvaiBigvay [an Israelite leader, two thousand fifty and six, a large number] 2,056ʼeleph
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| בְּנֵ֣י | [the] descendants of | Noun common, masculine plural construct |
| בִגְוָ֔י | Bigvai | Noun proper masculine |
| אַלְפַּ֖יִם | two thousand | Adj |
| חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים | fifty | |
| 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 Bigvai, 2,056; |
| KJV | The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six. |
| ASV | The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six. |
| YLT | Sons of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six. |
| WEB | The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six. |
| BBE | The children of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six. |
All translations agree on the rendering of בְּנֵי — see How Translations Differ.
The verse consists of a main clause identifying the descendants and a numeral phrase indicating 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 2:14
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 2:14 is part of a list documenting the families returning to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile. This genealogical record highlights the significance of family lineage in the restoration of Israel, showing how many people were involved in this return. The names and numbers reflect the community's continuity and identity, as seen in other passages like Ezra 8:14 and Nehemiah 7:19.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ezra 8:14 | and from the descendants of Bigvai, both Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men. |
| 2 | Nehemiah 7:19 | the descendants of Bigvai, 2,067; |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 2 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — בְּנֵי, be.Neigenerated
The word בְּנֵי (be.Nei) is a construct form of בֵּן (ben), meaning 'sons' or 'descendants.' It indicates a familial relationship, often extending to children or posterity. In this context, it signifies the descendants of Bigvai, emphasizing the importance of lineage in the community of Israel.
This noun is in the masculine plural form, indicating a group of male descendants. The construct state connects it to the following proper noun, בִגְוָי (Bigvai), showing that these are the sons or descendants of Bigvai specifically.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, which uses the descendants of Bigvai to translate בְּנֵי בִגְוָי.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of the verse is straightforward, with a noun phrase as the subject: בְּנֵי בִגְוָי (the descendants of Bigvai), followed by a numeral phrase indicating the count: אַלְפַּ֖יִם חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וְשִׁשָּֽׁה (two thousand fifty and six). This structure presents the subject first, followed by the quantifying details, common in Hebrew prose.
The finite verb is absent, as this is a list format typical of genealogical records. Each entry succinctly states a family and its number, emphasizing the collective return of the people.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, בְּנֵי is rendered as υἱοὶ (huioi), meaning 'sons.' This choice maintains the familial aspect of the Hebrew term, emphasizing lineage.
The Greek translation captures the essence of the Hebrew text, reflecting the importance of ancestry and the community's restoration after exile.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Ezra 2:14 lists the descendants of Bigvai, numbering 2,056. This verse is part of a larger record of those who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile, highlighting the importance of family and community in Israel's restoration.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Bigvai was an Israelite leader mentioned in the genealogies of those who returned from exile, indicating he may have been a head of a family.
The number 2,056 represents the total count of Bigvai's descendants returning to Jerusalem, emphasizing the large community involved in the restoration.
Genealogies establish lineage, identity, and inheritance, which are crucial for understanding the history and promises of Israel.
This verse reflects the fulfillment of God's promise to restore His people after exile, as seen in the return of their descendants to Jerusalem.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can I learn about the importance of family and community from this verse?
- How does understanding my own lineage help me connect with my faith?
- In what ways can I contribute to the restoration and unity of my community?
- How does this genealogical record inspire me to appreciate the history of my faith?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Ezra 2:14 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryThe children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six. The children of Bigvai - [Septuagint, Vatican, Bagoue; Alexandrine, Bagouai].
Read Robert Jamieson on Ezra 2 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges3–19. Names of households or families. Many of these names occur again in other lists, e.g. Ezra 8:1-14; Ezra 10:18-44; Nehemiah 10:1-27, and in connexion with much later events in the lifetime of Ezra and Nehemiah. These names therefore are not to be regarded as the names of the leading men of the various families who accompanied Zerubbabel, but as the titles of the families or clans into which the people were divided. These titles were probably taken from the founders of the families and were many of them of great antiquity. The mention of the same names of the ‘families’ at the return of Ezra (Ezra 8:1-14) merely shows that, though a certain number of a household had accompanied…
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 Bigvai, 2,056;
The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six.
the descendants of Bigvai, 2,056;
the descendants of Bigvai: 2,056;
Tyndale line
The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.
The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.
The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.
The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.
The sonnes of Biguai, two thousand, and sixe and fiftie:
Strictly literal
The children of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six.
Sons of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.
sons of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six;
The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.
The descendants of Bigvai: 2,056.
From the Latin
The children of Beguai, two thousand fifty-six.
Simplified
the sons of Bigvai, 2,056;
The children of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-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 and the Septuagint largely agree in this verse, with four out of five words matched. The differences in word order and articles in the Septuagint reflect its own grammatical structure, but the essential meaning remains intact.
בְּנֵ֣י בִגְוָ֔י אַלְפַּ֖יִם חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים וְשִׁשָּֽׁה׃ ס
4 of the 5 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 2:14
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…
בִּגְוַי (Bigvay) refers to a man, likely of foreign origin, associated with the return from exile under Zerubbabel. He is mentioned in Ezra 2:2, 2:14, and Nehemiah 10:16, possibly as a head of a family or a chief of the people. The name is interpreted to mean "in my bodies."
בִּגְוַי n.pr.m. (happy?)
a companion of Zerubbabel
a chief of the people in Nehemiah’s time
base
H902 בִּגְוַי
902 Bigvay big-vah'ee
probably of foreign origin; Bigvai, an Israelite:--Bigvai.
בִּגְוַי (big.vay) — Bigvai.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Ezr.2.2
§ Bigvai = "in my bodies"
an exile who returned under Zerubbabel, perhaps the head of a family
בִּגְוַי (big.vay) — Bigvai.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Ezr.2.14
§ Bigvai = "in my bodies"
an exile who returned under Zerubbabel, perhaps the head of a family
בִּגְוַי (big.vay) — Bigvai.
A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Neh.10.16
§ Bigvai = "in my bodies"
an exile who returned under Zerubbabel, perhaps the head of a family
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
big'-va-i (bighway; Baogei, Bagoua):
(1) The head of one of the families who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:2; Ne 7:7), having a large number of his retainers (2,056, according to Ezr 2:14; 2,067, according to Ne 7:19), besides 72 males later under Ezra (Ezr 8:14).
(2) One of those who subscribed the covenant with Nehemiah (Ne 10:16).
(happy). "Children of Bigvai," 2056 (Neh. 2067) in number, returned from the captivity with Zerubbabel, (Ezra 2:14; Nehemiah 7:19) and 72 of them at a later date with Ezra. (Ezra 8:14) (B.C. 536.) Apparently one of the chiefs of Zerubbabel’s expedition, (Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7) whose family afterwards signed the covenant. (Nehemiah 10:16) (B.C. 410.)
in my body
אֶ֫לֶף (eleph) means 'thousand' in Hebrew. It can refer to the numeral itself or denote a company or clan, particularly a group of men under one leader. The word is built from the concept of a thousand, and it is associated with the ox's head, which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
אֶ֫לֶף n.m. thousand
base
H505 אֶ֫לֶף thousand
505 'eleph eh'-lef
prop, the same as 504; hence (the ox's head being the first
letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral)
a thousand:--thousand.
see HEBREW for 0504
אֶ֫לֶף (e.leph) — thousand.
: thousand
1) a thousand
1a) as numeral
2) a thousand, company
2a) as a company of men under one leader, troops
אֶ֫לֶף (e.leph) — thousand: clan.
: clan
1) a thousand
1a) as numeral
2) a thousand, company
2a) as a company of men under one leader, troops
Adj — AdjHAcbda
thou'-zand ('eleph; chilioi).
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
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