'Houses' in the Bible

Then rose up the heads of fathers houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God had stirred to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem.

And these were they that went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their fathers houses, and their seed, whether they were of Israel:

And some of the heads of fathers houses , when they came to the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to set it up in its place:

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers houses , the old men that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers houses , and said unto them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.

But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers houses of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us in building a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.

Now these are the heads of their fathers houses , and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:

Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers houses of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah.

The exiles did what had been proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were family leaders, all identified by name, to represent their ancestral houses. They convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter,