OET interlinear NEH 7:61

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וְ⁠אֵ֗לֶּה הָֽ⁠עוֹלִים֙

and=these the,came_up

As in 7:6, “went up” means “traveled from Babylon back to Judah,” since that involves going from a river valley up into the mountains. Alternate translation: “Some others returned to Judah from Babylon”

Note 2 topic: translate-names

מִ⁠תֵּ֥ל מֶ֨לַח֙ תֵּ֣ל חַרְשָׁ֔א כְּר֥וּב אַדּ֖וֹן וְ⁠אִמֵּ֑ר

from,Tel- -melaḩ Tēl- -harsha Kərūⱱ/(Cherub) Addon and,Immer

These are the names of five towns in Babylonia. Alternate translation: “who had been living in the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer.”

וְ⁠לֹ֣א יָכְל֗וּ לְ⁠הַגִּ֤יד

and=not could to=announce

Alternate translation: “They had no records to prove”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

בֵּית־אֲבוֹתָ⁠ם֙ וְ⁠זַרְעָ֔⁠ם אִ֥ם מִ⁠יִּשְׂרָאֵ֖ל הֵֽם

house_of ancestral_of,their and,descent_of,their if from,Israel they

These two longer phrases mean similar things. The second phrase explains the meaning of the first for clarity and emphasis. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine these phrases. Alternate translation: “that their ancestors had been Israelites,” otherwise “what clan they were from or who their ancestors were, whether they were really Israelites”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet

בֵּית־אֲבוֹתָ⁠ם֙ וְ⁠זַרְעָ֔⁠ם

house_of ancestral_of,their and,descent_of,their

These two short phrases mean similar things. They are used together to emphasize that accurate records would be required to prove a person’s lineage. You do not need to repeat both phrases in your translation if that would be confusing for your readers. Alternate translation: “what their lineage was”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

בֵּית־אֲבוֹתָ⁠ם֙ וְ⁠זַרְעָ֔⁠ם

house_of ancestral_of,their and,descent_of,their

Among the Israelites, the expression father’s house or house of the father originally described an extended clan. It later came to be used more generally to refer to a larger clan within a tribe. (For example, the two expressions are used interchangeably in Exodus 6:14, “These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanok, Pallu, Hezron, and Karmi. These were the clan ancestors of Reuben.”) In this expression, the word house describes all the people descended from a particular person. The term views all of those descendants as if they were one household living together. Alternate translation: “what clan they were from”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וְ⁠זַרְעָ֔⁠ם

and,descent_of,their

Here, seed means “ancestors.” In the Bible, the term often describes a person’s descendants. But here, “their seed” means “whose seed they were,” so the term is describing the ancestors of these people. Alternate translation: “or who their ancestors were”