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

2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom, of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel, —of 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 Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, —and, with him—by genealogical registry of males, a hundred and fifty:

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

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

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

5 Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jehaziel, —and, with him, three hundred males;

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

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

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

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

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

8 And, of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah, son of Michael, —and, with him, eighty males;

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

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

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

10 And, of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, son of Josiphiah, —and, with him, a hundred and sixty males;

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

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

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

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

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

13 And, of the later sons of Adonikam, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, —and, with them, sixty males;

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

14 And, of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, —and, with him, seventy males.

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

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 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 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 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 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 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 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;

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 brethren 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, 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 So we fasted and sought of our God, concerning this, —and he suffered himself to be entreated by us.

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

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

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

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:

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 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;

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, bowls of gold, twenty, of a thousand drams, —and, utensils of fine bright bronze, two, precious 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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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 So we came to Jerusalem, —and we rested there, three days.

After we arrived in Jerusalem, we rested 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:

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 the number and by the weight of the whole, —and all the weight, was written down, at that time.

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

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.

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 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.

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.