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Journey of a Passage

Ezra 2:59–63; Nehemiah 7:61–65; 1 Esdras 5:36–40

"Till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim"

Priests who cannot find their genealogy are barred from the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim arises. The Hebrew names the sacred lots; the Vulgate and 1 Esdras turn them into qualities: "learned and perfect," "clothed with doctrine and truth." 1 Esdras names "Nehemias and Atharias" where Ezra has the title Tirshatha.

Read Ezra 2:59–63; Nehemiah 7:61–65; 1 Esdras 5:36–40 in every edition

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

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 7:65 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Same book in Hebrew tradition
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Ezra–Nehemiah
Greek
  1. Septuagint, Esdras B (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd–1st century BCTranslated from a Hebrew–Aramaic text of Ezra
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgate (1 Esdras = Ezra)c. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
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 7:65 (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.

    the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim

  3. Translated c. 2nd–1st century BC

    Septuagint, Esdras B (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew–Aramaic text of Ezra

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Et l'athersastha leur dit… jusqu'à ce qu'un prêtre fût suscité, portant lumières et perfections.

    "Lights and perfections": the Greek translates the meaning of Urim and Thummim. One Greek text via Giguet's French; not checked against Hanhart's Göttingen edition.

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate (1 Esdras = Ezra)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Et dixit Athersatha eis… donec surgeret sacerdos doctus atque perfectus.

    "A learned and perfect priest."

  5. 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.

    וַיֹּאמֶר הַתִּרְשָׁתָא לָהֶם… עַד עֲמֹד כֹּהֵן לְאוּרִים וּלְתֻמִּים

    and the Tirshatha said to them… until a priest stands for Urim and Thummim

  6. 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).

    For unto them said Nehemias and Atharias, that they should not be partakers of the holy things, till there arose up an high priest clothed with doctrine and truth.

    1 Esdras 5:40.

  7. 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).

    till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim

What changed, and why

The Hebrew leaves the barred priests' case to a future decision by the sacred lots, implying they were not then in use. The translations interpret the words ("lights" and "perfections" are their etymological meanings). 1 Esdras resolves the title Tirshatha into names, introducing Nehemiah into the earlier return, a sign that it is an edition with its own interpretations.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Vulgate and 1 Esdras render Urim and Thummim as qualities, not objects.
  • Not independently verifiedUrim and Thummim were in use at the time.

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.