BIGVAI (bĭg'vā-ī, fortunate)

One of the eleven or twelve chief men who returned from captivity by permission of Cyrus in 536 b.c. (Ezra.2.2; Neh.7.1-Neh.7.73).The ancestor of a family of over two thousand who returned with Zerubbabel from captivity (Ezra.2.14; Neh.7.19). Some think that the slight difference of numbers in the two verses quoted is due to the possibility that Ezra’s was a list made in Babylon before starting, and Nehemiah’s at Jerusalem after arriving. Some may have dropped out and a few added during the migration.Probably the same as no. 2. The ancestor of a family, seventy-two of whom returned with Ezra in 457 b.c. (Ezra.8.14).

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BIGVAI bĭg’ vī (בִּגְוַ֖י). 1. The head of a family that returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Neh 7:7). More than 2,000 attendants went with him (Ezra 2:14; Neh 7:19). Some members of the family came from Persia with Ezra (Ezra 8:14; 1 Esd 5:14 [KJV, ASV BAGOI], 8:40 [KJV, ASV BAGO]).

2. A man who signed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh 10:16).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

(bighway; Baogei, Bagoua):

(1) The head of one of the families who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:2; Ne 7:7), having a large number of his retainers (2,056, according to Ezr 2:14; 2,067, according to Ne 7:19), besides 72 males later under Ezra (Ezr 8:14).

(2) One of those who subscribed the covenant with Nehemiah (Ne 10:16).