These are the family heads and genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
Ezra, having received his commission from the king, beats up for volunteers, as it were, sets up an ensign to assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah, Isa 11:12. "Whoever of the sons of Sion, that swell with the daughters of Babylon, is disposed to go to Jerusalem, now that the temple there is finished and the temple-service set a-going, now is...
Commenting on Ezra 8:1-20
These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them,.... Which follows from hence to the end of Ezr 8:14, that went up with me from Babylon; with Ezra the priest and scribe, the writer of this book: in the reign of Artaxerxes the king; that is, Darius Hystaspis, in the seventh year of his reign, see Ezr 7:1, though...
These [are] now the chief of their fathers, and [this is] the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. (a) Read .