Bible Strands
Ezra 2:29
the descendants of Nebo, 52;
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The text functions as a formal census entry listing returning exiles by ancestral household. It appears in a post-exilic register documenting the families who rebuilt Jerusalem after the Babylonian deportation.
The words — The Hebrew term בְּנֵי (benei) literally translates to "descendants of," directly modifying נְבוֹ (Nebo) to identify the clan. The numeral חֲמִשִּׁים וּשְׁנַיִם (chamishim ushnayim) records the precise headcount of fifty-two individuals.
The thread — Nebo appears in Numbers 32:3 as a settled city in Moab and Deuteronomy 32:49 as the peak where Moses surveyed the Promised Land. Nehemiah 7:33 later lists a distinct group called "the men of the other Nebo" with the identical count of fifty-two.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that post-exilic restoration depended on verified genealogical records. It demands recognition that community identity was established through documented lineage rather than voluntary association.
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.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The children of Nebo, fifty and two.
Cross-references
- Numbers 32:3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
- Deuteronomy 32:49 “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.
- Nehemiah 7:33 the men of the other Nebo, 52;
- Isaiah 15:2 Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.
- Jeremiah 48:1 Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.
- Jeremiah 48:22 upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,