The other group of Levites was under the leadership of Hashabiah and Jeshaiah, descendants of Merari, who was a son of Levi. They were accompanied by his kinsmen and their sons, which is literally “his brothers and their sons.” The “brothers” could be the kin of either Hashabiah or Jeshaiah, while the “sons” were the descendants of both. Good News Translation groups them together as “relatives” and thus avoids the ambiguity of the Hebrew text. Some commentators have proposed making “brothers” singular to refer to Jeshaiah as the brother of Hashabiah, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports the Hebrew as the original form of the text with a B rating and should be followed.

Verses 18-20 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but Good News Translation restructures them into separate sentences and modifies the style for easy English reading and comprehension.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .