Ezra 8:1-30 ▼

1 And these are the heads of their fathers and the genealogy of those going up with me, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king, from Babylon:

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

3 of the sons of Shechaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered a hundred and fifty males;

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

5 of the sons of Zattu, Shechaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males;

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

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

8 and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him eighty males;

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

10 and of the sons of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty males;

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

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

13 and of the later sons of Adonikam—and these are their names—Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males;

14 and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them seventy males;

15 and I gathered them to the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And I considered about the people and the priests, and from the sons of Levi I found none there.

16 And I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam—leaders—and for Joiarib and Elnathan—men of understanding.

17 And I sent them to Iddo the leader in the place at Casiphia, and I told them what they should say to Iddo and his brothers the Nethinim at Casiphia the place, that they should bring to us those ministering for the house of our God.

18 And they brought to us by the good hand of our God upon us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, Sherebiah, and his sons and his brothers, eighteen;

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

20 and also of the Nethinim, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim. All of them were designated by name.

21 And I proclaimed there a fast at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before the face of our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and for our little ones and for all our possessions.

22 For I was ashamed to ask of the king a force and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those who seek Him for good, and His strength and His wrath are against all forsaking Him.”

23 And we fasted and sought from our God for this, and He was entreated of us.

24 And I separated twelve of the leaders of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers.

25 And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the articles, the contribution of the house of our God, which the king, and his counselors, and his princes, and all Israel—those present—had offered.

26 And I weighed into their hands, six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and a hundred talents of articles of silver a hundred talents of gold,

27 and twenty gold bowls of a thousand drachmas, and two vessels of fine polished bronze as precious as gold.

28 And I said to them, “You? are holy to YHWH, and the articles are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to YHWH, God of your? fathers.

29 Watch and keep them until you? weigh them before the face of the leaders of the priests, and the Levites, and the heads of the fathers of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of YHWH.”

30 And the priests and the Levites received by weight the silver and the gold and the articles, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.