ATER

(Aʹter) [perhaps, crippled one, left-handed one, or bound].

1. A man of Israel, ninety-eight of whose sons or descendants returned from Babylonian captivity with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 16; Neh. 7:21) They are listed thus: “The sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight,” perhaps indicating that they were offspring of Ater, the descendant of a certain Hezekiah (but probably not the Judean king of that name), or that they were Ater’s descendants through one Hezekiah. It may be a descendant of this Ater who was one of the headmen of the people attesting by seal the “trustworthy arrangement” of Nehemiah’s day.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 17.

2. A family head whose offspring were among the Levitical “sons of the gatekeepers” of the temple who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel.—Ezra 2:42; Neh. 7:45.