These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled.
Parallel translations
- WEB These sought their place among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood.
- KJV These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
- BSB These men searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
- NASB These searched among their genealogical registration but they could not be located; so they were considered defiled and excluded from the priesthood.
- NLT They searched for their names in the genealogical records, but they were not found, so they were disqualified from serving as priests.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
These families could not find their genealogical records, so they were excluded from the priesthood. Holiness required verified legitimacy, not mere claim.
Overview
Without documented descent, these men could not serve as priests, however sincere their desire. The leaders did not bend the rule, guarding the integrity of worship and the holiness of God's house. It foreshadows the need for a perfectly verified and rightful priest, ultimately fulfilled in Christ, whose priesthood God Himself confirmed (Hebrews 7:14-17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Num 3:10You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
- Num 16:39–40Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar,
- Lev 21:21–23No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
- Num 18:7You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You shall serve. I give you the service of the priesthood as a gift. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
- Ezek 44:10–14But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
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Christ at the center
The return from exile and the rebuilt altar keep alive the hope of a greater restoration — the true return from our deeper exile of sin accomplished by Christ.
How Ezra 2:62 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.