Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 5:10
We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that [were] the chief of them.
10. We asked their names ] R.V. we asked them their names. So the Aramaic. For the names of the Elders, cf. Ezr 2:2.
the chief of them ] R.V. at the head of them. Literally ‘at or in the heads of them’. The R.V. renders as if the word was in the singular; cf. 2Ch 20:27, ‘Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them’, (lit. at their head). But the rendering ‘that were their heads’ would be equally correct, and would account for the use of the plural.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We asked their names also,…. The names of the elders, those that set men about this work:
to certify that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them; take the names of them in writing, that they might with certainty acquaint the king who they were, and that if it was necessary they might be called to an account for what they were doing.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ezr 5:10 We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that [were] the chief of them.
Ver. 10. We asked their names also ] See Ezr 5:4 .
That were the chief of them
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
chief = head.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
asked: Ezr 5:4