Ezra 2:1

A List of People Who Returned to Judah

1 Nebuchadnezzar had taken many Jews away from the land of Judah. He had forced them to go to Babylonia as prisoners. Now they returned to Jerusalem and Judah. All of them went back to their own towns. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylonia.

Ezra 2:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 2:1

Now these are the children of the province
Either of the province of Babylon, as Aben Ezra, where they were either born, or had dwelt for many years; or else rather, according to Jarchi, of the province of Judea, as it is called, ( Ezra 5:8 ) once a flourishing kingdom, but reduced to a province of the Babylonian monarchy, now in the hands of the Medes and Persians, of which province they and their fathers originally were:

that went out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away,
whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon;
who either in person, or in their parents, were carried captive by him, and who were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and they are only mentioned, because they were the principal that returned, though there were some of the other tribes that also came up with them:

and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, everyone unto his city;
that he dwelt in before, or was now assigned to him by lot, see ( Nehemiah 11:1 )

Ezra 2:1 In-Context

1 Nebuchadnezzar had taken many Jews away from the land of Judah. He had forced them to go to Babylonia as prisoners. Now they returned to Jerusalem and Judah. All of them went back to their own towns. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylonia.

2 The leaders of the Jews included Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah and Reelaiah. They also included Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah. Here is a list of the men of Israel who returned home.

3 There were 2,172 from the family line of Parosh.

4 There were 372 from Shephatiah.

5 There were 775 from Arah.