Ezra 10:40 lists Machnadebai among those who had married foreign wives during the exile and were compelled to divorce them under Ezra's reforms. The name's etymology is uncertain; one scholar proposed it might mean 'possession of Nebo' (the Babylonian god), but this remains speculative. The Greek transliterations show variation, suggesting scribal uncertainty. This man represents the dozens of Jews who, during the Babylonian exile, had intermarried with surrounding peoples—unions that post-exilic leaders viewed as threatening covenant identity and purity.