Habaiah; Hobaiah

ha-ba'-ya, (cha-bhayah, chobhayah): A post-exilic priestly family which was unable to establish its pedigree. "Habaiah" is the form in Ezr 2:61; in the parallel passage (Ne 7:63), the King James Version has "Habaiah," and the Revised Version (British and American) "Hobaiah"; in the parallel passage in 1 Esdras 5:38, the form is Obdia, Codex Vaticanus, Obbeia.

ho-ba'-ya (chobhayah, "whom Yahweh hides," i.e. "protects"): The head of a priestly family that returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Because they could not trace their genealogy, they were not permitted to serve in the priestly office (Ne 7:63 f). In the Qere of this passage and in the parallel list of Ezr 2:61, this name appears in the form "Habaiah" (chabhayyah). "Obdia" is the form of the word in 1 Esdras 5:38.