Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Nehemiah 7:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse heads the register with provincials returning from Babylonian captivity to their own towns.
Read It With
- Nehemiah 7:5–7:7
Read Nehemiah 7:5–7:7 together. This verse heads the register with provincials returning from Babylonian captivity to their own towns. Read Nehemiah 7:5–7:7 as one complete scene: Nehemiah gathers the community for enrollment and reproduces a record of those who earlier returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Jeshua.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Nehemiah's claimed divine prompting, assembly purpose, discovery of a prior genealogy, return-from-exile heading, and leader list introduce the register before family totals begin. Its placement advances the book. An inherited document is embedded in the memoir, showing how archival material supports repopulation while also raising editorial and comparison questions. Within that movement, this verse heads the register with provincials returning from Babylonian captivity to their own towns.
Read Nehemiah 7:5–7 together
Why these verses belong together: Nehemiah's claimed divine prompting, assembly purpose, discovery of a prior genealogy, return-from-exile heading, and leader list introduce the register before family totals begin.
Verse 5. 5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,
Verse 6. 6 These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;
Verse 7. 7 Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;
Follow the Context
- Nehemiah gathers the community for enrollment and reproduces a record of those who earlier returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Jeshua.
- An inherited document is embedded in the memoir, showing how archival material supports repopulation while also raising editorial and comparison questions.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Nehemiah 7:6 does not reduce its distinct role—heads the register with provincials returning from Babylonian captivity to their own towns—to a standalone claim or rule; read it within Nehemiah 7:5–7:7. This genealogy does not define human worth, racial purity, or the full membership of every person living in Yehud.
What Remains True
Within Nehemiah 7:5–7:7, Nehemiah 7:6 heads the register with provincials returning from Babylonian captivity to their own towns. Records can serve continuity and accountability while remaining incomplete, revisable, and ethically bounded.
How It Can Shape Life
- At Nehemiah 7:6, attend to how the verse heads the register with provincials returning from Babylonian captivity to their own towns. Preserve source provenance, compare parallel registers openly, and provide fair procedures for people whose documentation is missing.
Teach It Back
Explain Nehemiah 7:6's precise role in Nehemiah 7:5–7:7. Include the first historical horizon, the surrounding verses, one person or cost that could be obscured, material uncertainty, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nehemiah 7:5–7:7 — An earlier return register is introducedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The register closely parallels Ezra 2 but has name and number differences; its prior forms, copying history, and editorial placement are disputed.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Nehemiah 7:5–7:7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Nehemiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, Persian titles, names, and translation controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Neh.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 7:5–7:7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Nehemiah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded KJV comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, literary, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence in the notes is not treated as positive evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Nehemiah PDF, printed pp. 770–772, translation text and any translator notes printed for 7:5–7:7
Open source ↗