Lexical Definition

‎וַנְיָה‎ Vanyâh (van-yaw') Vaniah ^N:N-M-P
perhaps for ‎עֲנָיָה‎

Vaniah.

• § Vaniah = "Jehovah is praise"
• Vanjah, an Israelite

1) one of the sons of Bani, in the time of Ezra, who took a foreign wife

Extended Information

• A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Ezr.10.36

Brown-Driver-Briggs

‎וַנְיָה‎ proper name, masculine one of those with strange wives, Ezra 10:36 (text dubious; ᵐ5^B Ουἰεχωα, ‎א‎ Ουἰερεχω, A Ουὀυνια, ᵐ5^L Ουἀνια).

Brown-Driver-Briggs References

Profile

Male • Returned divorcee • Israelite who married a foreign wife

Man living at the time of Exile and Return

Vaniah was an Israelite who had married a foreign wife during the Exile.

• A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Ezr.10.36;
• only referred to as Vaniah וַנְיָה.

Vaniah is mentioned in the list of men who had taken foreign wives during the Babylonian exile. This was discovered when Ezra, the priest and scribe, returned to Jerusalem and found that many Israelites had intermarried with the pagan peoples of the land. Vaniah was one of those who had violated God's command not to intermarry with foreigners. In response to Ezra's call for repentance, Vaniah and the others agreed to put away their foreign wives and children to maintain the purity of the Jewish people.

All entries for Vaniah: וַנְיָה