2:1 Now these [are] the children {a} of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;
(a) Meaning Judea, which was a province that is, a country which was in subjection.
2:1 The province - Of Judah, called a province, chap.5:8. And he calls it thus emphatically to mind himself and his brethren of that sad change which their sins had made among them, that from an illustrious, independent, and formidable kingdom, were fallen to be an obscure, servile, and contemptible province, first under the Chaldeans, and now under the Persians.
2:1-35 An account was kept of the families that came up out of captivity. See how sin lowers a nation, which righteousness would exalt!
