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Ezra 2 · a question people ask

Why don't Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 match?

In the text

Neither book says. Nehemiah writes, "I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found this written in it" (Nehemiah 7:5), and gives the list again. Much of it is the same word for word, and both give the same total: "The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty" (2:64; Nehemiah 7:66). But some names and numbers differ. Ezra has "The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five" (2:5), and Nehemiah "The children of Arah: six hundred fifty-two" (Nehemiah 7:10). Go deeper sets more of them side by side. The Bible sets both lists down and doesn't explain the differences. This study doesn't try to, and it doesn't add up either list.

The verses

“My God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be listed by genealogy. I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found this written in it:”
Nehemiah 7:5 · World English Bible
“The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,”
Ezra 2:64 · World English Bible
“The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,”
Nehemiah 7:66 · World English Bible
“The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five.”
Ezra 2:5 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ezra 2

Ezra 2: Everyone to his city

Ezra 2 is more than a list: it names the returning people family by family and town by town, "everyone to his city" (2:1), still counts those who "could not show their fathers’ houses" (2:59), and ends with gifts "according to their ability" (2:69) for the LORD's house before it was rebuilt; Nehemiah 7 gives the list again, with the same total and some different details.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions