1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Ezra 2:59 And these are they that came up from Thelmela, Thelharsa, Cherub, and Adon, and Emer. And they could not shew the house of their fathers and their seed, whether they were of Israel.

Thelmela, "the height of Mela, or of salt." The river Melas empties itself into the Euphrates. (Strabo xii.) --- The cities here mentioned were in Chaldea. Some of the ten tribes had probably been transported into Cappadocia, where Herodotus (II. 35,) place some circumcised Syrians. --- Thelharsa, or Thelassar, 4 Kings 19:12. --- Cherub, etc., were cities of Chaldea, (Tirinus) or chief men; but as they had been carried away by Theglathphalassar, they had lost their genealogies, and could only produce circumcision as a proof that they were Israelites.