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Ezra 2:59

in Ezra 2

The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And these were they that went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers’ houses, and their seed, whether they were of Israel:

KJV

And these were they which went up from Tel–melah, Tel–harsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not shew their father’s house, and their seed, whether they were of Israel:

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This verse in Ezra 2

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah · Written before 735.

And those who came up from Thelmela, etc. In this place, even according to the letter, the grace of God, by which also in the Old Testament the Gentiles were received into salvation, is shown. While a catalogue of those who clearly belonged to the …

This site's exposition

could not shew their father

on Ezra 2:59-61

Verses 59 to 61 name families who returned from Babylonian towns without any register to show they belonged to Israel by descent, and priests among them who carried the name of Barzillai the Gileadite after marrying into his line. The exile had broken written records along with everything else it broke, and the list keeps that gap honest rather than smoothing it over. John Gill reads the towns named, Tel-melah and Tel-harsa, as Babylonian settlements otherwise unknown, the families' only address left to history.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This, it seems, was expected and desired, but it does not appear that ever they were blessed with it under the second temple. They had the canon of the Old Testament complete, which was better than Urim; and, by the want of that oracle, they were taught to expect the Messiah the great Oracle, which the Urim and Thummim was but a type of.
And these were they that went up from Telmelah, Telharsa,.... Places in the land of Babylon, see Isa 37:

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, were probably cities, or villages, of Babylonia, at which the Jews here spoken of had been settled. The first and third have been reasonably identified with the Thelme and Chiripha of Ptolemy. Of the rest, nothing is known at present.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְאֵ֗לֶּהand these

    veelehH428 →746 times

  • הָֽעֹלִים֙[are] who came up

    haolimH5927 →890 times

  • מִתֵּ֥לfrom Tel

    mitelH8528 →

  • מֶ֙לַח֙Melah

    melachH8528 →

  • תֵּ֣לTel

    telH8521 →

  • חַרְשָׁ֔אHarsha

    charsha'H8521 →

  • כְּר֥וּבKerub

    keruvH3743 →

  • אַדָּ֖ןAddon

    ʾadanH135 →

  • אִמֵּ֑רImmer

    ʾimerH564 →10 times

  • וְלֹ֣אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יָֽכְל֗וּthey were able

    yakheluH3201 →

  • לְהַגִּ֤ידto declare

    lehagidH5046 →

  • בֵּית־[the] house of

    beit-H1004 →2046 times

  • אֲבוֹתָם֙ancestors their

    ʾavotamH1 →1212 times

  • וְזַרְעָ֔םand offspring their

    vezaramH2233 →

  • אִ֥םif

    ʾimH518 →

  • מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֖ל[were] from Israel

    miyisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • הֵֽם׃they

    hemH1992 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Numbers 1:18and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age or older,7 worksNehemiah 7:61The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:6 worksEzekiel 13:9My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.4 works1 Chronicles 9:1So all Israel was recorded in the genealogies written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. But Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.3 works2 Chronicles 31:17and to the priests enrolled according to their families in the genealogy, as well as to the Levites twenty years of age or older, according to their duties and divisions.2 works

About Ezra

Ezra Kneels in Prayer, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezra Kneels in Prayer, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezra: the study guide →Read Ezra 2 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezra 2 →