NATINEI (Hebrew *nēthīnēn*; LXX *vāvāyā*, rarely *vāvāyā* and *vāvāyālo*; Vulg. *nathinæi*). — Ministers attached to the most menial services (*Ezra* 8:20) of the Jerusalem Temple, mentioned after priests and Levites (*1 Chron.* 9:2; *Ezra* 2:43, 70; *Neh.* 7:46) as a distinct class, though not descended from a specific tribe or lineage. They are grouped, by similarity of function, with the «servants of Solomon» (*Ezra* 2:58; *Neh.* 7:60), descendants of the Canaanites, whom that king subjected to servile labor (*1 Kings* 9:20-21).
It is thought that in large numbers the N. were war captives (cf. *Josh.* 9:21-23) and their descendants. The name is connected with the root *nāthān* «to give» (a passive nominal formation, *qātil*), whence it is now commonly translated «oblate»; «given» to sacred service, as were the Levites themselves (called *nēthīnēn* «given», a passive participle, in *Num.* 3:9; 8:16, 19). No information about them exists from a time prior to the exile; it is known, however, that they existed in Babylon, from where a group returned with Ezra to Jerusalem (*Ezra* 7:7; 8:17, 20), where Nehemiah’s memoirs recall them as inhabiting their own quarter (*Neh.* 3:26, 31; 7:73; 11:3, 21) and participating in the reforms of that period (*Neh.* 10:29).