Ezra 2:61

61 Also these priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai, who had married a daughter of Barzillai from Gilead and was called by her family name.

Ezra 2:61 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 2:61

And of the children of the priests
Who could not make out their pedigree, for those that could are mentioned before:

the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of
Barzillai;
how the latter came by this name follows:

which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was
called after their name;
this man married a woman that descended from the famous Barzillai the Gileadite, in the times of David; and the priesthood being in disuse, and mean and despicable, in Babylon, he chose to take the name of his wife's family, and pass for a descendant from that, and perhaps destroyed, or at least neglected, to take care of the genealogy of his own family.

Ezra 2:61 In-Context

59 Some people came to Jerusalem from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not prove that their ancestors came from Israel.

60 They were the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda -- 652.

61 Also these priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai, who had married a daughter of Barzillai from Gilead and was called by her family name.

62 These people searched for their family records but could not find them. So they could not be priests, because they were thought to be unclean.

63 The governor ordered them not to eat any of the food offered to God until a priest had settled this matter by using the Urim and Thummim.