Ezra 2:70

This verse runs more smoothly as it appears in Nehemiah 7:73 -So the priests and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel dwelt in their cities".

The verse sums up the whole list.

The words -and some of the people" seem to be in the wrong place between -the Levites" and -the singers"; but the mention of -the singers" before -the porters" agrees more closely with the order of the list given in the present chapter than the order given in Nehemiah 7:73.

An awkwardness is presented by the words -in their cities" occurring twice, especially as the distinction drawn between -some of the people with the priests and Levites" and -all Israel" is not obvious. Some have seen in the words -all Israel" an expression intended to combine those who had returned from captivity in Babylon with those who had remained behind in Palestine and had never been carried away captive. Others have seen in it an allusion to representatives of the 10 Tribes who were to be found among the new community, and compare it with the mention of the 12 leaders of the people in Ezra 2:2 (cf. 1 Chronicles 9:3).

Perhaps the most probable explanation is that the text has suffered corruption and that the verse originally ran -So the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, and some of the people, even all Israel, dwelt in their cities", or as 1Es 8:45.

dwelt in their cities. Cf. -returned … every one unto his city" Ezra 2:1. The document from which this list was extracted contemplates the work of settling into their cities, which must have been a slow and gradual process, as one that had been for some time accomplished. At first only Jerusalem and the towns in the immediate neighbourhood could thus have been occupied.