Ezra 8

Those Who Went Up with Ezra

1These are the heads of families, with their genealogy, who came up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes: 2of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom; of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; of the descendants of David, Hattush; 3of the descendants of Shecaniah, of the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him 150 males registered by genealogy; 4of the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 males; 5of the descendants of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 males; 6of the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males; 7of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males; 8of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 males; 9of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 males; 10of the descendants of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 males; 11of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 males; 12of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 males; 13of the descendants of Adonikam, the later ones, whose names are these: Eliphelet, Jeiel and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males; 14of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with him 70 males.*

At the River of Ahava

15I gathered them at the river that runs toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I looked over the people and the priests, I found no Levites there. 16So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, who were leaders, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight. 17I sent them with an order for Iddo, the leader at the place called Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at Casiphia, so that they would bring us ministers for the house of our God. 18And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel — Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men; 19and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the descendants of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty men; 20and from the temple servants whom David and his officials had assigned to serve the Levites, two hundred and twenty temple servants, all of them designated by name. 21There, by the Ahava river, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe road for ourselves, our children and all our goods. 22For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is upon all who seek him, for good; but his power and his anger are against all who forsake him.” 23So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and he answered our plea.

The Silver, the Gold and the Vessels Entrusted

24Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah and ten of their brothers with them. 25And I weighed out to them the silver, the gold and the vessels — the offering for the house of our God that the king, his counsellors, his officials and all Israel present there had contributed. 26I weighed into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver vessels worth a hundred talents, a hundred talents of gold, 27twenty gold bowls worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine burnished bronze, as precious as gold. 28And I said to them, “You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, the God of your fathers. 29Watch over them and guard them until you weigh them out in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Yahweh, before the leading priests and Levites and the heads of the families of Israel.” 30So the priests and the Levites took charge of the silver, the gold and the vessels that had been weighed out, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

The Journey and the Arrival in Jerusalem

31On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava river to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us, and he rescued us from the grip of enemies and of those lying in wait along the road. 32We came to Jerusalem and rested there three days. 33On the fourth day the silver, the gold and the vessels were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest, and with him Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. 34Everything was checked by count and by weight, and the whole weight was recorded at that time. 35The returned exiles who had come back from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering — all of it a burnt offering to Yahweh. 36They also delivered the king’s orders to the royal satraps and to the governors of Beyond the River, and these gave support to the people and to the house of God.