The men of Beth-el and Ai, two hundred twenty and three.
Ezra 2:28 belongs to the list in Ezra 2:1-65 of those who accepted Cyrus's decree and offer to leave Babylonian captivity and went up to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in the first year of Cyrus. It records that 223 men of Bethel and Ai returned to their own land. The returned company numbered 42,360 persons, distinct from the many Jews who still remained in Babylon and were invited to return, though the account of the returnees is also reckoned as totaling nearly fifty thousand people.
Ezra 2:28 belongs to the list in Ezra 2:1-65 of those who accepted Cyrus's decree and offer to leave Babylonian captivity and went up to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in the first year of Cyrus. It records that 223 men of Bethel and Ai returned to their own land. The returned company numbered 42,360 persons, distinct from the many Jews who still remained in Babylon and were invited to return, though the account of the returnees is also reckoned as totaling nearly fifty thousand people.