These are the men of Judea …: These are the men repeats what was said in verse 4 (“These are the names of the men”). The demonstrative pronoun These points forward again.

Who came up out of their sojourn in captivity may be rendered “who returned from exile in Babylonia” (similarly Good News Bible). For the verb came up in this context, see the comments on “go up” in 1 Esdras 5.1.

Whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon does not necessarily mean that the Jewish men mentioned were exiled under Nebuchadnezzar. Most of them had probably been born in Babylonia. This clause refers to the families who raised them, as Good News Bible makes specific. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, see the comments on 1 Esd 1.40. Contemporary English Version reorders the clauses in verse 7 in a helpful way as follows: “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had captured many of the people of Judah and had taken them as prisoners to Babylonia.”

And who returned to Jerusalem and the rest of Judea, each to his own town: Contemporary English Version says “Now they were on their way back to Jerusalem and to their own towns everywhere in Judah.”

They came with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Resaiah, Bigvai, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Reeliah, Rehum, and Baanah, their leaders: The twelve names here are probably intended to represent the twelve tribes of ancient Israel, though all of these men would have been from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, or Levi. The parallel list in Ezra 2.2 has only eleven names, and the parallel list in Neh 7.7 has twelve names. What we have in the Greek text here is essentially the lists of Ezra 2.2 and Neh 7.7 put into Greek form, but there are minor differences between the lists in Ezra and Nehemiah, and the Greek list does not exactly agree with either. Revised Standard Version attempts to use the Hebrew names from the Ezra 2 list; its many footnotes give the equivalent names from the Greek text. Good News Bible uses the Hebrew names in cases where the Hebrew names are familiar enough to be recognized. New Revised Standard Version consistently follows the Greek text in this section, dispensing with all footnotes except one (on the name “Acuph” in verse 31). We recommend that the New Revised Standard Version spelling of the names be followed, with a few exceptions that will be noted. In verse 8 this policy will affect the Revised Standard Version names Bigvai, Bilshan, and Mispar, which in the model below are given in their Greek (New Revised Standard Version) forms. Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the representatives of the tribes of Judah and Levi (see the comments on verses 5-6), are singled out from the list of leaders by being joined together with the conjunction and at the head of the list. This should be reflected in the translation. Nehemiah refers either to Nehemiah the governor who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem (Neh 1.1) or Nehemiah who ruled half the district of Bethzur (Neh 3.16). Seraiah is the name of the father of Ezra (Ezra 7.1).

An alternative model for verses 7-8 is:

• 7 The Jewish men who are listed below came from families that were taken as exiles into Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia. 8 Now they were returning to Jerusalem and other parts of Judah, each man going to his own hometown. Their leaders were Zerubbabel and Joshua, along with Nehemiah, Seraiah, Resaiah, Eneneus, Mordecai, Beelsaurus, Aspharasus, Reeliah, Rehum, and Baanah.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.