The list of exiles who returned
The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua) 973
40 of Immer 1,052
41 of Pashhur 1,247
42 of Harim 1,017
43 The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua (through Kadmiel through the line of Hodaviah) 74
44 The musicians: the descendants of Asaph 148
45 The gatekeepers:* the descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita and Shobai 138
46 The temple servants: the descendants of Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth, 47 Keros, Sia, Padon, 48 Lebana, Hagaba,* Shalmai, 49 Hanan, Giddel, Gahar, 50 Reaiah, Rezin, Nekoda, 51 Gazzam, Uzza, Paseah, 52 Besai, Meunim, Nephusim, 53 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur, 54 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha, 55 Barkos, Sisera, Temah, 56 Neziah and Hatipha
57 The descendants of the servants of Solomon: the descendants of Sotai, Sophereth, Perida, 58 Jaala, Darkon, Giddel, 59 Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Amon
60 The temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon 392
61 The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel:
62 the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda 642
63 And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai (a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).
64 These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 65 The governor, therefore, ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there should be a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim.
66 The whole company numbered 42,360, 67 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 245 male and female singers.
68 There were 736 horses, 245 mules, 69 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.
70 Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 bowls and 530 garments for priests. 71 Some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver.
72 The total given by the rest of the people was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver and 67 garments for priests.
73 The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the temple servants, along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns.
What are some of the disagreements between the list here and the list in Ezra 2? First of all, many of the names in Nehemiah are not the same as those in Ezra. In a few cases this happens even when the numbers following the names at a certain position in the list are the same (Jorah/Hariph and Gibeon/Gibbar). In most cases the names are close enough that they can be recognized as variants of the same name (Bani/Binnui, Mispar/Mispereth, Amon/Ami, Sia/Siaha, and so on). This is no different than what we do in English (John/Johnny, Richard/Rich/Rick/Dick, Margaret/Maggie/Marge/Meg). People sometimes go by one name in their family and by a different name among their friends or business associates. The discrepancy of names between the two lists need not disturb us; it has nothing to do with the inerrancy of Scripture. Two versions of the list, made at different times, simply use different forms of the same names.
In a few cases it is possible that copying errors may have crept into the text of either Ezra or Nehemiah (Nehum/Rehum). Inspiration applies only to the writing of the original manuscripts, not to the copying. There may be occasional copying mistakes in our copies of the Bible, but none of them affect any doctrine or teaching of the Bible.
Nehemiah omits some of the items in Ezra and occasionally changes the order of names. Since both lists are summaries, not complete lists, these are simply variations, not errors. Both lists give the total number of returnees as 42,360. But Ezra lists only 29,818 returnees and Nehemiah only 31,818 in their lists of specific families. Neither list attempts to list every returnee, so it is not surprising that there is some difference in the number of names listed.
It is more difficult to explain the discrepancies in the numbers for the same family. For example, Ezra says there were 775 returnees from the family of Arah, but Nehemiah lists only 652. Many similar discrepancies are marked in the previous text (verses 4-73). In general, the numbers in Nehemiah tend to be larger than the corresponding numbers in Ezra, but this is not always the case. It is possible that there may be a few copying errors in one of the texts as we have it today, but this is not an adequate explanation for the differences. It is more probable that Ezra and Nehemiah simply used lists from different stages of the original census. From Ezra chapter 2 we learned that some people had difficulty proving their descent. A number of people not in the first listing may have been added after they had successfully demonstrated their ancestry.
Whatever other reasons there may be for the variations in the two lists, they can all be explained by the suggestion that the lists of Ezra and Nehemiah are simply two different stages of the same basic census. Each man was satisfied to use the list as he found it, since his goal was to provide a basic outline of the returnees, not to list every person. Although we do not have enough information to demonstrate with certainty how the two lists originated, we do see that they can be adequately explained without accusing either Ezra or Nehemiah of error.