Ezra 8

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

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 From the sons of Phinehas: Gershom; from the sons of Ithamar: Daniel; from the sons of David: Hattush;

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 Pharosh: Zechariah, and with him, reckoning themselves by genealogy, of males one hundred and fifty.

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

4 From the sons of Pahath-Moab: Elihoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred who are males.

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

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

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

6 And from the sons of Adin: Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him fifty who are males.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11 And from the sons of Bebai: Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight who are males.

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

12 And from the sons of Azgad: Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten who are males.

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

13 And from the younger sons of Adonikam—and these [are] their names—Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty who are males.

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

14 And from the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and with them seventy who are males.

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

15 And I gather them to the river that is going to Ahava, and we encamp there three days; and I consider about the people, and about the priests, and of the sons of Levi I have found none there;

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 and I send for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, heads, and for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding;

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 charge them for Iddo the head, in the place Casiphia, and put in their mouth words to speak to Iddo, [and] his brothers the Nethinim, in the place Casiphia, to bring to us servants 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 they bring to us, according to the good hand of our God on us, a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, and Sherebiah, and his sons, and his brothers, 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 brothers, 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 from the Nethinim, whom David and the heads gave for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim, all of them defined 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 And I proclaim there a fast, by the river Ahava, to afflict ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a right way for us, and for our infants, 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 from the king a force and horsemen to help us because of the enemy in the way, for we spoke to the king, saying, “The hand of our God [is] on all seeking Him for good, and His strength and His wrath [is] on all forsaking 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 And we fast, and seek from our God for this, and He accepts our plea.

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

24 And I separate from the heads of the priests, twelve, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them of their brothers ten,

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

25 and I weigh to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, a raised-offering of the house of our God, that the king, and his counselors, and his heads, and all Israel—those present—lifted up;

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 and I weigh to their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and one hundred talents of vessels of silver, one hundred talents of gold,

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 basins of gold, of one thousand drams, and two vessels of good shining bronze, desirable as gold.

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

28 And I say to them, “You [are] holy to YHWH, and the vessels [are] holy, and the silver and the gold [are] a willing-offering to YHWH, 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, and keep, until you weigh before the heads of the priests, and of the Levites, and the heads of the fathers of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of YHWH.”

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 And the priests and the Levites took the weight of the silver, and of the gold, and of the vessels, to bring to Jerusalem to 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 And we journey from the river Ahava, on the twelfth of the first month, to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God has been on us, and He delivers us from the hand of the enemy and the one lying 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 come to Jerusalem, and dwell there three days.

Eventually we arrived in Jerusalem and rested there for three days.

33 And on the fourth day has been weighed the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, in the house of our God, to the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest, and with him Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them Jozabad son of Jeshua, and Noadiah 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 by number, by weight of everyone, and all the weight is written at that time.

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

35 Those coming in of the captives—sons of the expulsion—have brought burnt-offerings near to the God of Israel: twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve young male goats for a sin-offering—the whole a burnt-offering to YHWH;

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 give the laws of the king to the lieutenants of the king and the governors beyond the river, and they have lifted up 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.