Ezra 2:23 — Word Study
WLCאַנְשֵׁ֣י עֲנָת֔וֹת מֵאָ֖ה עֶשְׂרִ֥ים וּשְׁמֹנָֽה׃ ס
BSAof AnathothʻĂnâthôwth [a city near Jerusalem, answers to prayer] 128mêʼâh
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| אַנְשֵׁ֣י | [the] men of | Noun common, masculine plural construct |
| עֲנָת֔וֹת | Anathoth | Noun proper |
| מֵאָ֖ה | one hundred | Adj |
| עֶשְׂרִ֥ים | twenty | |
| וּשְׁמֹנָֽה׃ ס | and eight | Conjunction |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | the men of Anathoth, 128; |
| KJV | The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight. |
| ASV | The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight. |
| YLT | Men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight. |
| WEB | The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight. |
| BBE | The men of Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight. |
All translations agree on the rendering of the key terms in this verse.
The sentence is straightforward, with a main clause followed by a numeral phrase indicating the 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 2:23
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 of the Exilesgenerated
Ezra 2:23 provides a record of the men from Anathoth who returned from exile, contributing to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This census reflects the organization and restoration efforts of the Jewish community after their return, similar to the lists found in Nehemiah 7:27.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua 21:18 | Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands. |
| 2 | Nehemiah 7:27 | the men of Anathoth, 128; |
| 3 | Isaiah 10:30 | Cry aloud, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! O wretched Anathoth! |
| 4 | Jeremiah 1:1 | These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. |
| 5 | Jeremiah 11:21 | Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, “You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand.” |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 5 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — אַנְשֵׁ֣י, 'an.Sheigenerated
The word אַנְשֵׁי ('an.Shei) comes from the root אִישׁ (iysh), meaning 'man' or 'human.' It is a common noun in the masculine plural construct, indicating a group of individuals.
This term emphasizes the humanity of the individuals counted, distinguishing them as people rather than mere numbers. It reflects the importance of each person in the context of the returning exiles.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
The verse is presented in the Berean Standard Bible, which uses men to translate אַנְשֵׁי.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The main clause of the verse is structured around the noun phrase אַנְשֵׁי, the men of, serving as the subject, followed by the predicate עֲנָת֔וֹת, Anathoth, and concluding with the numeral phrase indicating their count.
This structure highlights the identity of the group first, followed by their origin and number, which is typical in Hebrew prose.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, the term for אַנְשֵׁי is rendered as υἱοὶ (huioi), meaning 'sons' or 'children.' This choice emphasizes familial ties, suggesting a community identity.
The translation reflects a broader interpretation, possibly focusing on the lineage and heritage of the individuals from Anathoth.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Ezra 2:23 lists the men from Anathoth, a city near Jerusalem, stating that there were 128 of them. This count is part of a larger effort to document the returning exiles and their origins.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Anathoth is significant as it was the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah and symbolizes the restoration of the Jewish people.
The number indicates the size of the community returning to Jerusalem and their role in the rebuilding efforts.
The term 'men' emphasizes the human aspect of those returning, highlighting their individual contributions to the community.
This verse connects with other census accounts in Ezra and Nehemiah, showing the organized effort to restore the Jewish community after exile.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What does the return of the men from Anathoth teach us about community and identity?
- How can we see the importance of each individual in our own communities today?
- What role does heritage play in shaping our understanding of our identity?
- How can we contribute to the rebuilding efforts in our own communities?
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Ezra 2:23 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryThe men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight. The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight. The men of Anathoth - [Septuagint, Anathooth] - Anata, about three miles north of Jerusalem.
Read Robert Jamieson on Ezra 2 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges23. Anathoth] One of the towns assigned to the priests (Joshua 21:18; 1 Chronicles 6:60), the dwelling-place of Abiathar the high-priest (1 Kings 2:26) and of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1; Jeremiah 29:27). See Isaiah 10:28; Isaiah 10:30. It is situated about 4 miles N.E. of Jerusalem, the modern Anata. The name shows that the place in prehistoric times was a centre for the worship of the goddess Anath or Anta.
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 men of Anathoth, 128;
The men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight.
the men of Anathoth, 128;
the men of Anathoth: 128;
Tyndale line
The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight.
The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight.
The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight.
The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight.
The men of Anothoth, an hundreth and eight and twentie:
Strictly literal
The men of Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight.
Men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty and eight.
men of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight;
The men of 'Anathoth, one hundred twenty and eight.
The men of Anathoth: 128.
From the Latin
The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty-eight.
Simplified
the people from Anathoth, 128;
The men of Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight.
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 five words matched directly. The Septuagint, however, presents its own word order and articles, which differ from the Hebrew structure.
אַנְשֵׁ֣י עֲנָת֔וֹת מֵאָ֖ה עֶשְׂרִ֥ים וּשְׁמֹנָֽה׃ 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 2:23
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.
אֱנוֹשׁ (enowsh) refers to man or mankind, often used in a poetic context. It denotes a mortal individual, distinguishing humans from more dignified terms for man. The word encompasses both singular and collective meanings, indicating people or persons in general. Its Aramaic equivalent is אֱנָשׁ (e.nash), also meaning 'man'.
אֱנוֹשׁ n.m. man, mankind, mostly poet.
of individ.
coll. men
man, mankind
base
H582 אֱנוֹשׁ man, mankind, mostly poet.
582 'enowsh en-oshe'
from 605; properly, a mortal (and thus differing from the
more dignified 120); hence, a man in general (singly or
collectively):--another, X (blood-)thirsty, certain,
chap(-man); divers, fellow, X in the flower of their age,
husband, (certain, mortal) man, people, person, servant, some
( X of them), + stranger, those, + their trade. It is often
unexpressed in the English versions, especially when used in
apposition with another word . Compare 376.
see HEBREW for 0605
see HEBREW for 0120
see HEBREW for 0376
אֱנוֹשׁ (e.nosh) — human.
1) man, mortal man, person, mankind
1a) of an individual
1b) men (collective)
1c) man, mankind
Aramaic equivalent: e.nash (אֱנָשׁ "man" H0606)
HNcmpc — 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…
עֲנָתוֹת (Anathoth) refers to a city in Benjamin, located about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem, known as the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah. It also denotes two individuals from the tribe of Benjamin. The name is interpreted as "answers to prayer." The entries consistently identify its geographical and personal significance.
עֲנָתוֹת and עֲנָתֹת n.pr.
loc. c. 3 miles NNE. from Jerusalem
m.
base
H6068 עֲנָתוֹת and עֲנָתֹת c. 3 miles NNE. from Jerusalem
6068 `Anathowth an-aw-thoth'
plural of 6067; Anathoth, the name of two Israelites, also of
a place in Pal:--Anathoth.
see HEBREW for 06067
עֲנָתוֹת (a.na.tot) — Anathoth.
Anathoth = "answers to prayer"
a city of Benjamin allotted to the priest; located approximately 3 miles (5 km) from Jerusalem; birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah
Also named: an.to.ti (עַנְּתֹתִי "Anathoth" H6069)
עֲנָתוֹת (a.na.tot) — Anathoth.
A man of the tribe of Benjamin living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, only mentioned at 1Ch.7.8;
son of: Becher (H1071);
brother of: Zemirah (H2160), Joash (H3135), Eliezer (H0461I), Elioenai (H0454I), Omri (H6018H), Jeremoth (H3406H), Abijah (H0029K) and Alemeth (H5964H)
§ Anathoth = "answers to prayer"
1) son of Becher and grandson of Benjamin
2) one of the heads of the people who signed the covenant with Nehemiah
3) a city of Benjamin allotted to the priest; located approximately 3 miles (5 km) from Jerusalem; birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah
עֲנָתוֹת (a.na.tot) — Anathoth.
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
an'-a-thoth (`anathoth; Anathoth): A town which lay between Michmash and Jerusalem (Isa 10:30), in the territory of Benjamin, assigned to the Levites (Jos 21:18). It was the native place of Abiathar (1Ki 2:26), and of the prophet Jer (Jer 1:1; 11:21 ff, etc.). Here lay the field which, under remarkable circumstances, the prophet purchased (Jer 32:7 ff). Two of David's distinguished soldiers, Abiezer (2Sa 23:27) and Jehu (1Ch 12:3), also hailed from Anathoth. It was again occupied by the Benjamites after the return…
Anathoth
The name of one of the cities of refuge, in the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 21:18). The Jews, as a rule, did not change the names of the towns they found in Palestine; hence this town may be regarded as deriving its name from the goddess Anat. It was the native place of Abiezer, one of David’s “thirty” (2 Sam. 23:27), and of Jehu, another of his mighty men (1 Chr. 12:3). It is chiefly notable, however, as the birth-place and usual residence of Jeremiah (Jer. 1:1; 11:21-23; 29:27; 32:7-9). It suffered greatly from the army of Sennacherib, and only 128 men returned to it from the Exile (Neh. 7:27;
a priests’ city belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, with "suburbs." (Joshua 21:18; 1 Chronicles 6:60) Anathoth lay about three miles from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 10:30) The cultivation of the priests survives in tilled fields of grain, with figs and olives. There are the remains of walls and strong foundations, and the quarries still supply Jerusalem with building stones.
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)
Adj — AdjHAcfsa
hun'-dred (me'-ah; hekaton).
See NUMBER.
עֶשְׂרִים (esriym) means 'twenty' and can also refer to the ordinal 'twentieth.' It is derived from the root word for 'ten' and has an Aramaic equivalent, עֶשְׂרִין (es.rin). The entries consistently define the term without significant disagreement.
עֶשְׂרִים (a) twenty
base
H6242 עֶשְׂרִים (a) twenty
6242 `esriym es-reem'
from 6235; twenty; also (ordinal) twentieth:--(six-)score,
twenty(-ieth).
see HEBREW for 06235
עֶשְׂרִים (es.rim) — twenty.
twenty, twentieth
Aramaic equivalent: es.rin (עֶשְׂרִין "twenty" H6243)
HAcmpa — HAcmpa
twen'-ti.
See NUMBER.
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
HC/Acbsa — ConjunctionHC/Acbsa