Bible Strands
Nehemiah 7:39
The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the house of Jeshua), 973;
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah records a post-exilic census listing priestly families by name and count to document the returned community. The narrator catalogs the descendants of Jedaiah alongside other priestly lineages to establish administrative boundaries for temple service.
The words — The text uses בְּנֵי (benei, "descendants of") and לְבֵית (leveit, "house of") to trace the priestly count through Jedaiah to Jeshua. The numeral 973 is constructed from תֵּשַׁע (tesha, "nine"), מֵאוֹת (me'ot, "hundreds"), and שִׁבְעִים (shiv'im, "seventy").
The thread — This census entry appears identically in Ezra 2:36 and connects to 1 Chronicles 24:7 where Jedaiah receives a priestly division by lot. The repeated listing preserves the administrative record of post-exilic worship leadership.
Why it lands — The text requires precise verification of lineage and numerical accountability for those eligible for temple duties. A reader must acknowledge that recorded ancestry and strict enumeration structured the restored community's religious obligations.
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
The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 24:7 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,
- Ezra 2:36 The priests: The descendants of Jedaiah (through the house of Jeshua), 973;