Ezra 8

1 Now, these, are their ancestral heads, and their genealogical register, —even of those who came up with me, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king, out of 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 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—by genealogical registry of 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, 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 Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jehaziel, —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, 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, 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, son of Michael, —and, with him, eighty males;

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

9 Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah, 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 Bani, Shelomith, son of Josiphiah, —and, with him, a hundred and sixty males;

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

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

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

12 And, of the sons of Azgad, Johanan, 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 later sons of Adonikam, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, —and, with them, sixty 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 him, seventy males.

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

15 And I gathered them together, unto the river that cometh into Ahava, and we encamped there three days, —and I informed myself among the people and the priests, and, of the sons of Levi, found I 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 So 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, 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 put into their mouth words, to speak unto Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, to bring unto us attendants 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 So they brought unto us, according to the good hand of our God upon us, a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, —and Sherebiah, and 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 rulers had given for the service of the Levites, Nethinim, two hundred and twenty, —all of them, expressed 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 proclaimed I there a fast, by the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, —to seek of him a smooth 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 who seek him, for good, But, his power and his anger, are against all who 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 sought of our God, concerning this, —and he suffered himself to be entreated by us.

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

24 Then I separated, from among the rulers of the priests, twelve, —even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and, with them, from among their brethren, ten;

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 utensils, —the heave-offering for the house of our God, which the king and his counselors and his rulers and all Israel who were 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 even weighed unto their hand, of silver, six hundred and fifty talents, and, of utensils of silver, 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, bowls of gold, twenty, of a thousand drams, —and, utensils of fine bright bronze, two, precious as gold.

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

28 Then said I unto them, Ye, are hallowed unto Yahweh, and, the utensils, are hallowed, —and, the silver and the gold, are a freewill offering, unto Yahweh, 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 guard, until ye weigh [them] before the rulers of the priests and the Levites and the ancestral rulers of Israel, in Jerusalem, —in the chambers of the house of Yahweh.

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 accepted the weight of the silver and the gold, and the utensils, —to bring 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 brake we up from the river of Ahava, on the twelfth of the first month, to journey unto Jerusalem, —and, the hand of our God, was upon us, and he delivered us from the grasp of the enemy and of 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 So we came to Jerusalem, —and we rested there, three days.

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

33 And, on the fourth day, was weighed—the silver and the gold and the utensils, in the house of our God, unto the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest, and, with him, was Eleazar son of Phinehas, —and, with them, were Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui, 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 the number and by the weight of the whole, —and all the weight, was written down, at that time.

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

35 They who came in out of the captivity, Sons of the Exile, offered as ascending-sacrifices unto the God of Israel—bullocks twelve for all Israel, rams ninety-six, young sheep seventy-seven, he-goats for bearing sin, twelve, —the whole, as an ascending-sacrifice unto Yahweh.

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 Then delivered they the decrees of the king, unto the satraps of the king, and the pashas Beyond the River, —and they upheld 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.