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:

This is a list of the family leaders and genealogical records of those who came back with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

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

From the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. From the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. From 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.

son of Shecaniah. From the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him 150 men were registered.

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

From the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai, son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men.

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

From the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men.

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

From the sons of Adin, Ebed, son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men.

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

From the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah, son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men.

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

From the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah, son of Michael, and with him 80 men.

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

From the sons of Joab, Obadiah, son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men.

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

From the sons of Bani, Shelomith, son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men.

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

From the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, son of Bebai, and with him 28 men.

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

From the sons of Azgad, Johanan, son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men.

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.

From the sons of Adonikam, those who were last, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men.

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

From the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

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.

I gathered the returning exiles together at the Ahava Canal. We camped there for three days while I reviewed who had come—the ordinary people, the priests, and the Levites. I discovered there wasn't a single Levite

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.

so I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men with good insight.

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.

I told them to go to Iddo, the leader of the Temple servants at Casiphia, asking him and his relatives to send us ministers for the Temple 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;

Since our gracious God was with us, they brought us Sherebiah, a man with good insight from the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, together with his sons and brothers, a total of eighteen men;

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

and Hashabiah, along with Jeshaiah, from the sons of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, a total of twenty men.

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.

In addition they brought 220 of the Temple servants, a group appointed by David and his officials to help the Levites. These were all registered 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.

At the Ahava Canal I called for a fast so we could confess our sins before God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, along with all our possessions.

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.

I had been reluctant to ask the king to give us a military escort to protect us from enemies on the way. We had told the king, “Our gracious God takes care of everyone who follows him, but shows his anger against anyone who abandons him.”

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

So we fasted and asked God to protect us, and he answered our prayers.

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

Then I designated twelve of the leading priests, and Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers,

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:

and I weighed out and handed them the donations of silver and gold, and the items that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the people of Israel there had given for the Temple of our God.

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

I weighed out and placed in their hands 650 talents of silver, silver Temple items weighing 100 talents, 100 talents of gold,

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

20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two articles of highly-polished bronze, as valuable 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.

I told them, “You are set apart for the Lord, and these Temple items are too. The silver and gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your forefathers.

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.

You are to guard them and keep them safe until you hand them over, weighing them before the high priests, the Levites and the family leaders in Israel at Jerusalem, in the treasury rooms within the Lord's Temple.”

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.

The priests and Levites took responsibility for the silver and gold and the Temple items that had been weighed out to be brought to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem.

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.

On the twelfth day of the first month, we left the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and our God was with us to protect us from enemy ambushes along the way.

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

Eventually we arrived in Jerusalem and rested there for 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 Levites)—

On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the Temple items were weighed out in the Temple of our God and handed over to Meremoth, son of Uriah the priest, accompanied by Eleazar, son of Phinehas. Also present were the Levites, Jozabad, son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, son of Binnui.

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

Everything was checked, both by number and weight, and the total weight was written down at the 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.

Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel—twelve bulls for all of Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and a sin offering of twelve goats. All were sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Lord.

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.

They also delivered the king's decrees to the chief officers of the king and the governors of the province west of the Euphrates, who then provided assistance to the people and to God's Temple.