tel me.lach is a proper name listed among places from which people came up but could not establish Israelite descent.

The attested form is a proper name appearing in parallel lists of places from which people came up, followed by their inability to establish their ancestral connection to Israel.

1. Place name in a returnee list · dominant

   In Ezra 2:59, the proper noun occurs in the list of places from which people came up; the APB renders the list with “Tel-melah” before saying they could not prove their ancestral houses or descent. Nehemiah 7:61 presents the same use, with “Tel-melah” among the listed places and the group unable to declare their fathers' houses or seed.

   Ezra 2:59Nehemiah 7:61

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term as “Tel-melah” in both verses within a list of places. The place-name identification rests on the supplied proper-noun morphology and list context.