KELITA

(Ke·liʹta) [perhaps, crippled, dwarfed one, or, adopted one].

1. One of the Levites of Ezra’s day who recognized their guilt in taking foreign wives and therefore sent them away in 468-467 B.C.E. He is also called Kelaiah (meaning, perhaps, swift for Jehovah, Jehovah has dishonored, or, dwarf). (Ezra 10:23, 44) Possibly the same as Nos. 2 and 3.

2. A Levite who assisted Ezra in “explaining the law to the people” in 455 B.C.E.—Neh. 8:7, 8; see No. 1.

3. A Levite whose descendant, if not himself, attested by seal the “trustworthy arrangement” of Nehemiah’s time. (Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 9, 10) If Kelita himself, rather than a descendant, was present when this agreement was made, he may have been the same as No. 1 or No. 2.