Nehemiah 7:20
“The children of Adin, six hundred fifty-five.”
What does Nehemiah 7:20 mean?
This verse is part of a list documenting how many people returned to Jerusalem after the exile in Babylon, recorded by their family groups. The "children of Adin" refers to descendants of a particular clan, and the number 655 tells us roughly how many members of that family made the journey home. These genealogies mattered deeply to the returning community because they established who belonged, who had rights to ancestral property, and how the rebuilt nation would be organized. For anyone rebuilding their life after loss or displacement, there's something meaningful in how carefully these names and numbers were preserved, showing that each person and family was known and counted.