Ezra 8

1 These are now the chief of their fathers, and the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.

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

3 From the sons of Shechaniah, from the sons of Parosh, Zechariah. And with him were counted by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty.

4 From the sons of Pahath-moab, Eli-hoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males.

5 From the sons of Shechaniah, the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males.

6 From the sons also of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males.

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

8 And from the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him eighty males.

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

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

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

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

13 And from the last sons of Adonikam, these: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males.

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

15 And I gathered them to the river which runs to Ahava. And we stayed there in tents three days. And I looked over the people and the priests, and did not find there any of the sons of Levi.

16 Then 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, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding.

17 And I sent them with command to Iddo the chief of the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say to Iddo, to his brothers the temple slaves, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

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

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

20 also of the temple slaves whom David and the rulers had chosen for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty temple slaves. All of them were called by name.

21 Then I called a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God, in order to seek from Him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our goods.

22 For I was ashamed to ask of the king troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

23 So we fasted and prayed to our God for good. And He was pleased to hear us.

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

25 And I weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, the offering of the house of our God, which the king and his counselors and his lords, and all Israel who were there, had offered.

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

27 and twenty basins of gold of a thousand drams, and two vessels of fine copper as desirable as gold.

28 And I said to them, You are holy to Jehovah, and the vessels are holy. And the silver and the gold are a free-will offering to Jehovah, the God of your fathers.

29 Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and the chief of the fathers of Israel at Jerusalem in the rooms of the house of Jehovah.

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

31 And we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was on us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and from ambushers by the way.

32 And we came to Jerusalem and stayed 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 by 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, Levites.

34 They were weighed by number and by weight of every one. And all the weight was written at that time.

35 The sons of those who had been exiled, who had come out of the captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve young bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to Jehovah.

36 And they delivered the king's orders to the king's lieutenants and to the governors of the province Beyond the River. And they helped the people and the house of God.