Ezra 8

¹Now 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:

²Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.

³Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty.

⁴Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males.

⁵Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males.

⁶And of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males.

⁷And of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males.

⁸And of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him fourscore males.

⁹Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred and eighteen males.

¹⁰And of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him a hundred and threescore males.

¹¹And of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty and eight males.

¹²And of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him a hundred and ten males.

¹³And of the sons of Adonikam, that were the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them threescore males.

¹⁴And of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males.

¹⁵And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there we encamped three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.

¹⁶Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, who were teachers.

¹⁷And I sent them forth unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and his brethren the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.

¹⁸And according to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;

¹⁹and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty;

²⁰and of the Nethinim, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of them were mentioned by name.

²¹Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

²²For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.

²³So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us.

²⁴Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them,

²⁵and weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered:

²⁶I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels a hundred talents; of gold a hundred talents;

²⁷and twenty bowls of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold.

²⁸And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto Jehovah, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill-offering unto Jehovah, the God of your fathers.

²⁹Watch 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.

³⁰So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.

³¹Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the lier-in-wait by the way.

³²And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.

³³And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest (and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levites)—

³⁴the whole by number and by weight: and all the weight was written at that time.

³⁵The children of the captivity, that were come out of exile, offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin-offering: all this was a burnt-offering unto Jehovah.

³⁶And they delivered the king’s commissions unto the king’s satraps, and to the governors beyond the River: and they furthered the people and the house of God.

Ezra 8

¹These are the family heads and genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

²from the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom; from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;

³from the descendants of David, Hattush of the descendants of Shecaniah; from the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;

⁴from the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;

⁵from the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men;

⁶from the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;

⁷from the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;

⁸from the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;

⁹from the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;

¹⁰from the descendants of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men;

¹¹from the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;

¹²from the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;

¹³from the later descendants of Adonikam, these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;

¹⁴and from the descendants of Bigvai, both Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

¹⁵Now I assembled these exiles at the canal that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And when I searched among the people and priests, I found no Levites there.

¹⁶Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan.

¹⁷And I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for him and his kinsmen, the temple servants at Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

¹⁸And since the gracious hand of our God was upon us, they brought us Sherebiah—a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel—along with his sons and brothers, 18 men;

¹⁹also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men.

²⁰They also brought 220 of the temple servants, all designated by name. David and the officials had appointed them to assist the Levites.

²¹And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.

²²For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.”

²³So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He granted our request.

²⁴Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers,

²⁵and I weighed out to them the contribution of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites there had offered for the house of our God.

²⁶I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver, articles of silver weighing 100 talents, 100 talents of gold,

²⁷20 gold bowls valued at 1,000 darics, and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold.

²⁸Then I told them, “You are holy to the LORD, and these articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.

²⁹Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families.”

³⁰So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.

³¹On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.

³²So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.

³³On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and sacred articles into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, along with the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.

³⁴Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.

³⁵Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.

³⁶They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps and governors of the region west of the Euphrates, who proceeded to assist the people and the house of God.