And these are the people of the province These are the Children of Israel who are from the province of the land of Israel, who are now coming up to Jerusalem from the captivity that is in the exile.

and they returned And now they returned to Jerusalem.

and Judea And the people of Judea returned, each one to his city.

[Those] who came these people of the province, in the beginning, when they went into exile from Israel to Babylon with Zerubbabel etc.

Mispar...the number Heb. מִסְפָּר. [This word appears twice in this verse.] In the first one, the “pay” is vowelized with a “kamatz,” and it is the name of a man; in the second, the “pay” is vowelized with a “pattah”, and it is the construct state, [meaning the number of].

the important men of the people of Israel These were the great and important people, and the others followed them. Therefore, they were counted after them separately.

The children of Parosh, etc. There are some in the chapter for whom the father’s name is used for the family name [surname] and there are some who are called by the name of their place, i.e., “the children of such-and-such a place.”

The priests: the children of Jedaiah Until here, he counted the children of Judah and Benjamin, and from now on he counts the priests and the Levites, as he says above (1:5): “So the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose....”

The singers The Levites who were singers, and likewise, the gatekeepers are Levites who were gatekeepers of the gates of the Temple.

The Nethinim Now he counts those Nethinim who were woodcutters and water-drawers for the congregation, and from there they derived their livelihood.

and the children of Solomon’s slaves King Solomon had slaves, and these children were of their descendants.

And these were the ones who ascended from Tel-Mela, etc. And what incident happened to them? They could not tell....

and their children [i.e., the children] of their fathers, because they lost their genealogical records and did not know if they were Israelites.

The children of Delaiah They too are included in “these were the ones who ascended from Tel- Melah.”

who took Each one of the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite took a wife.

and was called by their name And the name of Barzillai was called on their name because they took of his daughters.

These referring to the priests, who had to trace their lineage with that record, and who could not find the record of their lineage.

and they were disqualified Heb. וַיְגאַלוּ, for they were defiled and purged from the priesthood that they should no longer perform the service with the remaining priests, because their genealogical record was not found.

Hattirshatha That is Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah (Neh. 8:9), and our Rabbis said (Yerushalmi Kid. 4:1) that he was named Hattirshatha because the Sages permitted him (הָתֵּר) to drink (שָּׁתָּא) wine of gentiles because he was the king’s butler.

of the most holy sacrifices sin-offerings and guilt-offerings, like the other priests.

until a priest arises, etc. like a person who says to his friend, “Until the Messiah comes, this matter will not come about.” I cannot interpret it to mean: until a priest arises for the Urim and Tumim in the Second Temple, because we find in Yoma, chapter 1 (21b) that the Urim and Tumim were missing in the Second Temple.

The entire congregation together When they were all together with the priests, the Levites and the Nethinim, they amounted to this number; and the Children of Israel counted above were of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, and those missing from this number, which you will not find above, were of the other tribes. So it is explained in Seder Olam (ch. 29): “‘The entire congregation together was forty-two thousand etc.’ But if you add them up, they are only thirty thousand. Where are the thirteen thousand? They ascended from the other tribes.”

Besides their slaves and their bondwomen who were not included in the congregation.

and they had two hundred male and female singers because they were going up joyfully from Babylon to the land of Israel, they required male and female singers in order that they should stroll among them in their great joy.

donated They were donating toward the building of the Temple.

According to their ability according to their ability and their money.

drachmas Heb. דַּרְכְּמוֹנִים, the name of a golden coin.

and priests’ tunics in which to serve.