Ezra 2:48

Study note

Setting — The text functions as an administrative inventory of families returning from Babylonian exile to Jerusalem. It records genealogical data without framing it as a speech or direct address.

The words — The Hebrew formula בּנֵי (benei), translated "descendants of," repeats three times before the names Rezin, Nekoda, and Gazzam. This rigid repetition marks each group as a distinct lineage block rather than a narrative sequence.

The thread — The identical grouping of Rezin, Nekoda, and Gazzam appears in Nehemiah 7:50-51 as a parallel census record. The same structural pattern marks other returnee lists in Ezra 8:1-14 and Nehemiah 10:19-21.

Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to note that post-exilic community identity was anchored in documented ancestry. It establishes legal and social boundaries for inheritance and service without offering narrative commentary or theological explanation.

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.