ContradictionsReading order 280Bible context 1 min read

How many of Senaah's offspring returned from Babylon?

The Senaah entries agree on the thousands and final thirty but differ by three hundred people.

Textual conflict: Direct contradiction; The quoted passages make incompatible claims about the same subject under the same conditions. Little additional inference is needed.
Importance: Incidental; A small detail with little effect on the wider account.

Corresponding Senaah return-list entries give definite totals differing by three hundred.

An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.

Senaah's group contains three thousand six hundred thirty

The children of Senaah, three thousand and six hundred and thirty.

Ezra 2:35

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Ezra 2

Senaah's group contains three thousand nine hundred thirty

The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

Nehemiah 7:38

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Nehemiah 7

Understanding the contradiction

Ezra 2:35 records 3,630 children of Senaah. Nehemiah 7:38 records 3,930. The shared group name makes the comparison direct, and the hundreds component accounts for the entire numerical difference.

Neither entry introduces an additional Senaah subgroup or gives a range wide enough to include both totals. Each presents a definite figure. Thus the disagreement is three hundred people within one corresponding return-list category. That is a textual inconsistency if the entries purport to record the same group at the same point. The excerpts do not state distinct counting occasions, so explaining the difference through later population growth would add a narrative absent from the supplied evidence.

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contradictionEzraNehemiah

Senaah's group contains three thousand six hundred thirty

Senaah's group contains three thousand nine hundred thirty

Understanding the contradiction

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