Ezra 2:3

Study note

Setting — The text records a census of returning exiles organized under leaders like Zerubbabel and Jeshua, listing family group tallies (Ezra 2:2–4). This verse specifically registers the adult male count for the clan of Parosh within that broader administrative roll.

The words — The Hebrew בּנֵי פַרְעֹשׁ (benei Parosh) translates literally as "sons of Parosh," immediately followed by the numeral 2,172 rendered as two thousand, one hundred, and seventy-two. The phrasing follows standard genealogical and accounting conventions to identify a specific lineage within the population data.

The thread — This exact family and its identical census figure appear in Nehemiah 7:8, while later passages note smaller contingents from the same lineage returning in subsequent waves (Ezra 8:3; Ezra 10:25). The repeated tally anchors the clan's documented presence across the restoration narratives without conflating the original census with later returns.

Why it lands — The verse functions as a historical register, requiring readers to track lineage and population data without supplying narrative commentary. It demands precise attention to the documented accounting of returning families rather than theological inference.

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.