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Journey of a Passage

Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7; 1 Esdras 5:8

The leaders of the return: eleven or twelve?

Ezra 2:2 names eleven leaders with Zerubbabel; Nehemiah 7:7 names twelve, adding Nahamani, and spells several names differently. 1 Esdras 5:8 has its own forms. Twelve leaders would match the twelve tribes and the twelve goats of 6:17.

Read Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7; 1 Esdras 5:8 in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew / Aramaic
  1. Original Ezra–NehemiahComposed c. 5th–4th century BC (debated)
  2. Nehemiah 7:7 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Same book in Hebrew tradition
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Ezra–Nehemiah
Greek
    Latin
      English
      1. 1 Esdras in the King James Apocrypha (1611)1611Translated from printed Greek of 1 Esdras
      2. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      Every witness, in order

      1. Composed c. 5th–4th century BC (debated)

        Original Ezra–Nehemiah

        – No copy survives

        No original survives.

      2. Same book in Hebrew tradition

        Nehemiah 7:7 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)

        ✓ Contains this passage

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.

        Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah

        Twelve names.

      3. AD 1008

        Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

        ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Ezra–Nehemiah

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

        זְרֻבָּבֶל יֵשׁוּעַ נְחֶמְיָה שְׂרָיָה רְעֵלָיָה מָרְדֳּכַי בִּלְשָׁן מִסְפָּר בִּגְוַי רְחוּם בַּעֲנָה

        Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah

        Eleven names.

      4. 1611

        1 Esdras in the King James Apocrypha (1611)

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Greek of 1 Esdras

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

        Zorobabel, with Jesus, Nehemias, and Zacharias, and Reesaias, Enenius, Mardocheus. Beelsarus, Aspharasus, Reelius, Roimus, and Baana

        1 Esdras 5:8.

      5. 1611

        King James Bible

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

        Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah

      What changed, and why

      Seraiah/Azariah and Reelaiah/Raamiah are similar in Hebrew script; Nahamani is missing from Ezra, perhaps by a copying slip. The Nehemiah and Mordecai of this list are not the famous Nehemiah (a century later) or Esther's Mordecai: common names of the period. Mordecai and Bilshan are Babylonian-style names, like Zerubbabel ("seed of Babylon") itself.

      What the evidence shows

      • Independently documentedNehemiah 7:7 has one more leader than Ezra 2:2.
      • Conflicts with current evidenceThe Nehemiah and Mordecai of this list are the famous Nehemiah and Mordecai.

      Sources

      • H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah (Word Biblical Commentary 16, 1985)

      Related lessons

      • The Names of Those Who Came Home →Ezra 2 lists the returnees: eleven leaders headed by Zerubbabel and Jeshua; families and towns; priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants; and people who could not prove their ancestry, including priests barred until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise. The whole assembly is 42,360, with 7,337 servants and 200 singers. The same list appears in Nehemiah 7 and 1 Esdras 5, with many differences.
      • Returning Families and the Disputed Lists →With the wall complete, Nehemiah sets gatekeepers, singers and Levites, and puts Hanani and Hananiah over Jerusalem. The city is large but its people few. God moves him to gather the nobles and people to be registered, and he finds the register of the first returnees. Nehemiah 7:6–73 repeats the list of Ezra 2, with many differences in the numbers.