The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred [and] threescore. But the sums before given make no more, with Zerubbabel, and the ten principal men, than 29,829, so that there are more than 12,000 wanting; wherefore, in answer to the question, where are the 12,000? the Jews say in their chronology a these are they of the other tribes, who set up the altar on its bases, and gave money to the masons, c. Ezra 3:1, this was a much larger number than were carried captive see 2 Kings 24:14, but not to be compared with the number that came out of Egypt, Exodus 12:37. An Arabic writer b makes them 50,000, but wrongly.
a Seder Olam Rabba, c. 29. p. 86. b Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 5. p. 82.