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Person Old Testament

Elioenai

Elioenai was a priest who married a foreign woman during the Babylonian exile. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Ezra 10:22.

Why it matters. A priest who married a foreign woman.

Primary passages
Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Elioenai

Elioenai is mentioned in the Book of Ezra as one of the priests who had married foreign women during the Babylonian exile (Ezr.10.22). After the return to Jerusalem, Ezra discovered that many Israelites, including priests and Levites, had intermarried with the neighboring peoples, which was against God's command. Elioenai was among those who had taken foreign wives, but he agreed to put away his wife as part of the covenant renewal led by Ezra. The Bible does not provide any further details about Elioenai's life or priestly duties.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

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Appears in Scripture

Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.