Ezra 2:46

Study note

Setting — The author of Ezra compiles a census of Judean returnees organizing by clan after the Babylonian exile. The passage functions as an administrative register rather than a spoken address or narrative scene.

The words — בְּנֵי (benei) translates literally as “descendants” or “sons,” and חָגָב (chagav) names a specific clan head. The text strings three parallel phrases together to record the family lines of Hagab, Shalmai, and Hanan.

The thread — This exact genealogical formula appears in Ezra 2:45 and 47, which bracket the verse with identical clan listings. The pattern of cataloging returnees by ancestral household repeats throughout Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7.

Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that post-exilic community structure depended on verified family lines. It establishes that land allotment, temple service, and civic identity were assigned through recorded descent rather than personal affiliation.

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.