Their horses, etc. - The whole of this verse is wanting in fifty of Kennicott's MSS., and in twenty-nine of those of De Rossi, in the edition of Rab. Chayim, 1525, in the Roman Edit. of the Septuagint; also in the Syriac and in the Arabic. It should however be observed, that the Arabic omits the whole list, having nothing of the chapter but the first five verses. The whole is found in the parallel place, Ezra 2:66. Calmet's note on this passage is incorrect.

Their horses, seven hundred thirty and six: their mules, two hundred forty and five:

7:5-73 Nehemiah knew that the safety of a city, under God, depends more upon the inhabitants than upon its walls. Every good gift and every good work are from above. God gives knowledge, he gives grace; all is of him, and therefore all must be to him. What is done by human prudence, must be ascribed to the direction of Divine Providence. But woe to those who turn back from the Lord, loving this present world! and happy those who dedicate themselves, and their substance, to his service and glory!