Nehemiah 10:14

The chief of the people. From v. 14 to Magpiash in v. 20 the personal names correspond to those of lay families that returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:3-30; Neh. 7:8-33); the first 18 are personal names, two of which (v. 17) should be united by a hyphen, since it is clear that they represent the single family “After of Hezekiah,” mentioned in Ezra 2:16 and Neh. 7:21. (“Hizkijah” and “Hezekiah” are identical in the original Hebrew text.) The last three are names of localities: Nebai (v. 19), the same as Nebo (Neh. 7:33); Magpiash (v. 20), the same as Magbish (Ezra 2:30); and Anathoth. The others (from Meshullam to Baanah, Neh. 10:20-27) are names either of the heads of the different houses into which these families were divided or of the elders of the smaller towns of Benjamin and Judah. That not all the families listed in Ezra 2 appear in this list may be due to the fact that some may have merged, though there is also evidence that during the course of years fresh accessions to the number of families had occurred.