Ezra

8 And these are the heads of families, and their lists, that came up with me in the reign of King Artaxerxes from Babylon:

2 Of the sons of Pinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush, 3* one of the sons of Shecaniah.

Of the sons of Pareosh, Zecariah, and with him were listed, of males, a hundred and fifty.

4 Of the sons of Pahath Moab, Eljehoʽenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred, the males.

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

6 And of the sons of ʽAdin, ʽEbed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty, the males.

7 And of the sons of ʽElam, Jeshaʽiah the son of ʽAthaliah, and with him seventy, the males.

8 And of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Micael, and with him eighty, the males.

9 And of the sons of Joab, ʽObadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen, the males.

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

11 And of the sons of Bebai, Zecariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight, the males.

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

13* And of the sons of Adonikam latecomers, and these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeʽiel, and Shemaʽiah; and with them sixty, the males.

14* And of the sons of Bigvai, Ghuthai the son of Zaccur, and with him seventy, the males.

15 And I gathered them to the river that runs into Ahava; and when we had been there three days I looked over the people and the priests, and did not find any of the sons of Levi there. 16 And I sent Eliʽezer, Ariel, Shemaʽiah and Elnathan and Jarib and Elnathan and Nathan and Zecariah and Meshullam, headmen, and Jojarib and Elnathan, expounders, 17* and commissioned them to Iddo the head at the place Casiphja, and gave them a message for speaking to Iddo and his brothers the temple servants at the place Casiphja to bring us servitors for the house of our God; 18 and they brought us, in accordance with the good hand of our God resting on us, a sensible man, one of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi the son of Israel, Sherebiah, and his sons and his brothers, eighteen of them; 19* and Hashabiah and with him Jeshaʽiah, of the sons of Merari, his brothers and sons, twenty of them; 20 and of the temple servants whom David and the generals had given for the service of the Levites two hundred and twenty temple servants, all listed by name.

21 And I proclaimed a fast there by the river Ahava to present ourselves submissively before our God to seek from him a clear course for us and our children and all our chattels. 22 For I had been ashamed to ask the king for troops and riders to help us against enemies on the road, because I had said to the king “All who betake themselves to our God have over them his hand for their good, but those who leave him have over them his might and anger.” 23 And we fasted and besought our God about this, and he granted our prayer.

24* And I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, and Sherebiah and Hashabiah and with them ten of their brothers, 25* and weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the contribution for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and generals and all of Israel that were to be found had made; 26* and I weighed into their hands six hundred and twenty-five hundredweight of silver, and a hundred silver vessels, two hundredweight, ninety-six hundredweight of gold, 27* and twenty gold stoups, two hundred and seventy ounces, and ten vessels of fine bright bronze as desirable as gold. 28 And I said to them “You are consecrated to Jehovah, and the vessels are sacred, and the silver and gold are a donation to our fathers’ God Jehovah; 29 guard them carefully till you weigh them out before the chiefs of the priests and Levites and the chiefs of families of Israel in the vestries at Jehovah’s house at Jerusalem.” 30* And the priests and Levites received the weighed-out silver and gold and the vessels to bring to Jehovah’s house at Jerusalem.

31 And we set out from the river of Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and our God’s hand was over us, and he delivered us from the hands of enemy and prowler on the road. 32 And we came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days, 33 and on the fourth day the silver and gold and vessels were weighed out in our God’s house into the hands of Priest Meremoth the son of Urijah, and with him Eleazar the son of Pinehas, and with them the Levites Jozabad the son of Jeshuaʽ and Noʽadiah the son of Binnui, 34 —all by count and by weight; and all the weight was written down.

35* At that time those who had come in from their serfdom, the returned deportees, presented burnt-offerings to the God of Israel: twelve steers on behalf of all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven sheep, twelve he-goats for sin-offering, all a burnt-offering to Jehovah.

36 And they gave the king’s mandates to the king’s satraps and the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and they helped on the people and the house of God.