Bible Strands
Ezra 2:64
The whole assembly numbered 42,360,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The chronicler records that the returned exiles were counted immediately after listing individual household totals and before noting the accompanying servants and singers. This moment occurs during the initial organization of the post-exilic community returning from Babylon.
The words — The Hebrew phrase כָּל־הַקָּהָל (kol-haqqāhāl) translates literally as "all the assembly." It is paired with כְּאֶחָד (kə'ēḥāḏ), meaning "as one," which frames the numerical total as a single, consolidated entity.
The thread — The identical figure appears in Nehemiah 7:66, preserving the same census data across the historical books. The concept of a gathered, preserved population aligns with Jeremiah 23:3 and Ezra 9:8, which both reference God's action in collecting a surviving remnant.
Why it lands — The text states a precise headcount of 42,360 before any theological application follows. It requires the reader to acknowledge the concrete, measured reality of the returning group rather than treating the restoration as an unquantified promise.
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 whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 23:3 Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply.
- Ezra 9:8 But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stake in His holy place. Even in our bondage, our God has given us new life and light to our eyes.
- Nehemiah 7:66 The whole assembly numbered 42,360,
- Isaiah 10:20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.