1 Chronicles 9:2

2 Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim.

1 Chronicles 9:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 9:2

Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in
their cities
Who first returned from Babylon upon the proclamation of Cyrus, and enjoyed their former possessions, and dwelt in the cities they had before, or in such as were allotted them, or they chose:

[were], the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinims;
the whole body that returned were divided into four classes, as they had been before the captivity; the Israelites were the common people in general, the body politic; the priests, the ecclesiastics, who officiated in sacred things; the Levites, who ministered to them; and the Nethinims were such persons as were "given", as the word signifies, to do servile work for the sanctuary, as, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water; such were the Gibeonites, ( Joshua 9:27 ) , and such as were appointed by David for such work, see ( Ezra 8:20 ) .

1 Chronicles 9:2 In-Context

1 So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel: and Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their transgression.

2 Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim.

3 And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh:

4 Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the children of Perez the son of Judah.

5 And of the Shilonites: Asaiah the first-born, and his sons.