Ezra 8

1 Now 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:2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.3 Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty.4 Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males.5 Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males.6 And of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males.7 And of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males.8 And of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him fourscore males.9 Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred and eighteen males.10 And of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him a hundred and threescore males.11 And of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty and eight males.12 And of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him a hundred and ten males.13 And of the sons of Adonikam, that were the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them threescore males.14 And of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males.15 And 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.16 Then 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.17 And 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.18 And 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;19 and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty;20 and 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.21 Then 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.22 For 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.23 So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us.24 Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them,25 and 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:26 I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels a hundred talents; of gold a hundred talents;27 and twenty bowls of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold.28 And 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.29 Watch 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.30 So 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.31 Then 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.32 And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.33 And 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 Levite;34 the whole by number and by weight: and all the weight was written at that time.35 The 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.36 And 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

The Families Who Came Back //with Ezra

1 Artaxerxes was king of Persia when It led the following chiefs of the family groups from Babylonia to Jerusalem:

2-14 Gershom of the Phinehas family;
Daniel of the Ithamar family;
Hattush son of Shecaniah of the David family;
Zechariah and 150 other men of the Parosh family, who had family records;
Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah with 200 men of the Pahath Moab family;
Shecaniah son of Jahaziel with 300 men of the Zattu family;t
Ebed son of Jonathan with 50 men of the Adin family;
Jeshaiah son of Athaliah with 70 men of the Elam family;
Zebadiah son of Michael with 80 men of the Shephatiah family;
Obadiah son of Jehiel with 218 men of the Joab family;
Shelomith son of Josiphiah with 160 men of the Bani family;t
Zechariah son of Bebai with 28 men of the Bebai family;
Johanan son of Hakkatan with 110 men of the Azgad family;
Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah who returned sometime later with 60 men of the Adonikam family;
Uthai and Zaccur with 70 men of the Bigvai family.

Ezra Finds Levites //for the Temple

17 Then I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, t and I told them to ask him and his temple workers to send people to serve in God's temple.
18 God was kind to us and caused them to send a skillful man named Sherebiah, who was a Levite from the family of Mahli. Eighteen of his relatives came with him. 19 We were also sent Hashabiah and Jeshaiah from the family of Merari along with 20 of their relatives.

20 In addition, 220 others came to help the Levites in the temple. The ancestors of these workers had been chosen years ago by King Davidt and his officials, and they were all listed by name.

Ezra Asks the People //To Go without Eating //and To Pray

23 So we went without food and asked God himself to protect us, and he answered our prayers.

The Gifts for the Temple

25-27 Then I weighed the gifts that had been given for God's temple, and I divided them among the twelve priests I had chosen. There were gifts of silver and gold, as well as the articles that the king, his advisors and officials, and the people of Israel had contributed. In all there were: 22 tons of silver; 100 silver articles weighing 70 kilograms ; 3.4 tons of gold; 20 gold bowls weighing over 8 kilograms ; and 2 polished bronze articles as valuable as gold.

28 I said to the priests:
You belong to the [Lord], the God of your ancestors, and these things also belong to him. The silver and gold were willingly given as gifts to the [Lord].

29 Be sure to guard them and keep them safe until you reach Jerusalem. Then weigh them inside God's temple in the presence of the chief priests, the Levites, and the heads of the Israelite families.

30 The priests and Levites then took charge of the gifts that had been weighed, so they could take them to the temple of our God in Jerusalem.

The Return to Jerusalem

31 On the twelfth day of the first month, t we left the Ahava Rivert and started for Jerusalem. Our God watched over us, and as we traveled along, he kept our enemies from ambushing us.
32 After arriving in Jerusalem, we rested for three days. 33 Then on the fourth day we went to God's temple, where the silver, the gold, and the other things were weighed and given to the priest Meremoth son of Uriah. With him were Eleazar son of Phinehas and the two Levites, Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.

34 Everything was counted, weighed, and recorded.
35 Those who had returned from exile offered sacrifices on the altar to the God of Israel. Twelve bulls were offered for all Israel. Ninety-six rams and 77 lambst were offered on the altar, and 12 goats were sacrificed for the sins of the people. 36 Some of those who had returned took the king's orders to the governors and officials in Western Province. Then the officials did what they could for the people and for the temple of God.