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 names of the leaders of the clans who came with me up [to Jerusalem] from Babylonia when Artaxerxes was the king [of Persia]:

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

Gershom, from the clan descended from [Aaron’s grandson] Phinehas Daniel, from the clan descended from [Aaron’s son] Ithamar Hattush, the son of Shecaniah, from the clan descended from King David

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.

Zechariah and 150 [other] men from the clan descended from Parosh

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

Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah and 200 other men from the clan descended from Pahath-Moab

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

Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel and 300 other men from the clan descended from Zattu

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

Ebed the son of Jonathan and 50 other men from the clan descended from Adin

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

Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and 70 other men from the clan descended from Elam

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

Zebadiah the son of Michael and 80 other men from the clan descended from Shephatiah

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

Obadiah the son of Jehiel and 218 other men from the clan descended from Joab

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

Shelomith the son of Josiphiah and 160 other men from the clan descended from Bani

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

Zechariah the son of Bebai and 28 other men from the clan descended from [another man whose name was] Bebai

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

Johanan the son of Hakkatan and 110 other men from the clan descended from Azgad

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

Also Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, who returned [here] later with 60 men from the clan descended from Adonikam

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

And Uthai and Zaccur and 70 other men from the clan descended from Bigvai.

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 all of them together at the canal that goes [from Babylon] to Ahava [town]. We set up our tents there and stayed there for three days. [During that time] I checked the lists of names and found out that there were priests [going with us], but no [other] descendants of Levi [who could help them in the temple].

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 summoned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, two men whose names were Elnathan, and Jarib, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were all leaders [of the people]. I also summoned Joiarib and another Elnathan, who were wise.

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 sent them all to Iddo, the leader of the descendants of Levi, who was living in Casiphia [town], to request that he and his relatives and other men who had worked in the temple send to us some men who would [go/come with us to] work in God’s new temple [in Jerusalem].

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;

Because God was kind to us, they brought to us a man named Sherebiah and 18 of his sons and other relatives. Sherebiah was a very wise man, a descendant of Mahli, [who was a grandson] of Levi.

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

They also sent to us Hashabiah, along with Jeshaiah, descendants of [Levi’s son] Merari, and 20 of their relatives.

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.

They also sent 220 other men to work in the temple. Those men’s ancestors had been appointed by King David to assist the descendants of Levi [who helped the priests in the temple]. I listed/wrote the names of all those men.

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,

There alongside the Ahava Canal, I told them that we all would (fast/abstain from eating food) and pray. I also told them that we should humble ourselves in the presence of our God. We prayed that God would protect us while we traveled, and also protect our children and our possessions/belongings.

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.”

Previously we had told the king that our God takes care of all those who truly trust in him, but that he becomes very angry with those who refuse to obey him. So I would have been ashamed if I had asked the king to send soldiers and men riding on horses to protect us from our enemies while we were traveling along the road.

23 And we fast, and seek from our God for this, and He accepts our plea.

So we (fasted/abstained from eating food) and requested God to protect us, and he (answered our prayers/did what we requested.)

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

I chose twelve of the leaders of the priests, Sherebiah and Hashabiah and ten of their relatives.

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;

I appointed them to supervise carrying to Jerusalem the gifts of silver and gold and the other valuable items that the king and his advisors and other officials, and the Israeli people [who were living in Babylonia], had contributed 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,

As I gave these various items to those priests, I weighed each of the items. This was the total: 25 tons of silver, 100 items made from silver that altogether weighed 7,500 pounds, (7,500 pounds/3,400 kg.) 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 that altogether weighed (19 pounds/8.6 kg.), and two items made of polished bronze that were as valuable as ones made of 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 said to those priests, “You belong to Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors (worshiped/also belonged to), and these valuable things also belong to him. The people themselves gave these things to be offerings to Yahweh (voluntarily/because they wanted to).

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.”

So guard them carefully, and [when we arrive] in Jerusalem, weigh them in the presence of the priests, the descendants of Levi [who will help the priests], and the other Israeli leaders there. They will then put them in the storerooms in the new 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.

So the priests and [other] descendants of Levi took from me all the gifts of silver and gold and the other valuable items, in order to carry them to the temple 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 April 19, we left the Ahava Canal and started to travel to Jerusalem. Our God took care of us, and while we traveled, he prevented our enemies and bandits from (ambushing us/suddenly attacking us).

32 and we come to Jerusalem, and dwell there three days.

After we arrived in Jerusalem, we rested 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:

Then on the fourth/next day we went to the temple. There the silver and gold and the other items were weighed and given to the priest Meremoth, the son of Uriah. Eleazar the son of Phinehas and two descendants of Levi, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui, were with him.

34 by number, by weight of everyone, and all the weight is written at that time.

They counted everything, and wrote down how much they weighed, and wrote [a description of] each item.

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;

We who had returned from Babylonia offered to God sacrifices on the altar. We offered twelve bulls for all us Israeli people. We also offered 96 rams and 27 lambs. We also sacrificed twelve goats [to atone] for the sins that all the people had committed. These were all completely burned on the altar.

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.

Some of us who returned [from Babylonia] took to the governors and other officials of the province west of the [Euphrates] River the letter that the king had given to us. [After they read the letter, ] they did all [that they were able to do] for us Israeli people and for the temple of God.