Bible Strands
Ezra 2:65
in addition to their 7,337 menservants and maidservants, as well as their 200 male and female singers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the census of the returned exiles immediately after listing the total assembly in Ezra 2:64 and just before tallying their livestock in Ezra 2:66.
The words — מִלְּבַד (mi.le.vad) translates literally to "besides" or "in addition to," marking these personnel as supplementary to the main headcount, while עַבְדֵיהֶם (av.dei.hem) and אַמְהֹתֵיהֶם (am.ho.tei.hem) denote their male and female servants.
The thread — The specific mention of professional singers and household staff echoes the worship personnel in Exodus 15:20 and the mourning singers in 2 Chronicles 35:25, while the administrative accounting of servants reflects the court structure noted in 2 Samuel 19:35.
Why it lands — The reader must acknowledge that the post-exilic community is recorded as a fully organized society with designated economic and liturgical roles, requiring precise inventory rather than spiritual abstraction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 19:35 I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
- Exodus 15:20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
- 2 Chronicles 35:25 Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
- Nehemiah 7:67 in addition to their 7,337 menservants and maidservants, as well as their 245 male and female singers.
- Psalms 68:25 The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.
- Psalms 148:12 young men and maidens, old and young together.
- Ecclesiastes 2:8 and I accumulated for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered to myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—many concubines.
- Isaiah 14:1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
- Matthew 9:23 When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
- Jeremiah 9:17 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.