Ezra 2:10

Study note

Setting — The narrator records a formal census of returned exiles organized by ancestral house. This entry specifies the headcount for the family of Bani within that broader restoration register.

The words — The text uses בְּנֵי (benei) for "descendants of" and בָנִי (Bani) for the clan patriarch, followed by שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁנַיִם (shesh me'ot arba'im u'shenayim) meaning "six hundred forty-two." These Hebrew terms function as a straightforward administrative tally rather than a theological statement.

The thread — Ezra 10:34 lists specific individuals from this same clan during the covenant renewal that followed the return. Nehemiah 7:15 preserves a parallel genealogical register that cross-references the returning families and their numbers.

Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge the concrete, documented structure of the restored community. It asks the reader to track how numbered families collectively fulfilled the historical return without abstracting the data into mere symbolism.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.