1These are the heads of their fathers’ houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:
The list mentions the priests’ families first (Ezra 8:2), then the royal line, a descendant of David (Ezra 8:2–3), and then twelve lay families (Ezra 8:3–14).1 The inclusion of twelve families is most likely done to represent all of Israel.2
1 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: