And of the Levites: Jozabad and Shimei and Kelaiah, who was Kelita, and Pethahiah and Judah and Jonah: The Levites were the second category of Jewish men who had to send their foreign wives away. For Levites see the comments on 1 Esd 1.3. A number of names in the list are repeated several times and are common names in Ezra and Nehemiah. In this verse one person who can be identified is Jozabad. His name is also found in the parallel passage of Ezra 10.23, in Ezra 8.33, where he was one of the Levites who received the gifts for the Temple from Ezra, in Neh 8.7 as one of the Levites who helped explain the Law, and in Neh 11.16 as one of the leaders of the Levites supervising the work on the outside of the Temple. Also in this verse is Kelaiah, who is mentioned in the parallel passage of Ezra 10.23 and in Neh 8.7 and 10.10 by his nickname Kelita, which means “cripple” or “dwarf.” Good News Bible places the nickname in parentheses to show that while this is part of the text, it is an editorial comment or explanation. Translators should do here as they have done elsewhere to indicate editorial comments in the text. An alternative model for this verse is:

• Among the Levites were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Jonah.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.