Ezra 2:1

The Names of the Returning Exiles

2:1 1 These are the people 2  of the province who were going up, 3  from the captives of the exile whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile in Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem 4  and Judah, each to his own city.

Ezra 3:12

3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders 5  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established 6  – were weeping loudly, 7  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

1 sn The list of names and numbers in this chapter of Ezra has a parallel account in Neh 7:6-73. The fact that the two lists do not always agree in specific details suggests that various textual errors have crept into the accounts during the transmission process.

2 tn Heb “the sons of.”

3 tn The Hebrew term הָעֹלִים (ha’olim, “those who were going up” [Qal active participle]) refers to continual action in the past. Most translations render this as a simple past: “went up” (KJV), “came up” (RSV, ASV, NASV, NIV), “came” (NRSV). CEV paraphrases: “were on their way back.”

4 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

5 tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

6 sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

7 tn Heb “with a great voice.”