People Who Went with Ezra

8 Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households and the genealogical enrollment of those who went up with me from Babylon in the reign of King Artaxerxes: ² of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, ^(A)Hattush; ³ of the sons of Shecaniah who was of the sons of ^(B)Parosh, Zechariah and with him 150 males who were in the genealogical list; ⁴ of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah and 200 males with him; ⁵ of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and 300 males with him; ⁶ and of the sons of ^(C)Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan and 50 males with him; ⁷ and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and 70 males with him; ⁸ and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael and 80 males with him; ⁹ of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel and 218 males with him; ¹⁰ and of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and 160 males with him; ¹¹ and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai and 28 males with him; ¹² and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan and 110 males with him; ¹³ and of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and 60 males with them; ¹⁴ and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and ^[a]Zabbud, and 70 males with ^[b]them.

Ezra Sends for Levites

¹⁵ Now I assembled them at ^(D)the river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I observed the people and the priests, I ^(E)did not find any Levites there. ¹⁶ So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, ^[c]leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers. ¹⁷ I sent them to Iddo the ^[d]leading man at the place Casiphia; and I ^[e]told them what to say to ^[f]Iddo and his brothers, ^(F)the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God. ^18 (G)According to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a ^(H)man of insight of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, 18 men; ¹⁹ and Hashabiah and ^[g]Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, 20 men; ²⁰ and 220 of ^(I)the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, all of them designated by name.

Protection of God Invoked

²¹ Then I proclaimed ^(J)a fast there at ^(K)the river of Ahava, that we might ^(L)humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a ^[h]safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. ²² For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to ^[i]protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “^(M)The hand of our God is ^[j]favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but ^(N)His power and His anger are against all those who ^(O)forsake Him.” ²³ So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He ^[k](P)listened to our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, ^(Q)Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers; ²⁵ and I ^(R)weighed out to them ^(S)the silver, the gold and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king and ^(T)his counselors and his princes and all Israel present there had offered. ^26 (U)Thus I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth 100 talents, and 100 gold talents, ²⁷ and 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold. ²⁸ Then I said to them, “^(V)You are holy to the Lord, and the ^(W)utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers. ²⁹ Watch and keep them ^(X)until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites and the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites ^(Y)accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

³¹ Then we journeyed from ^(Z)the river Ahava on ^(AA)the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and ^(AB)the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way. ^32 (AC)Thus we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days.

Treasure Placed in the Temple

³³ On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils ^(AD)were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of ^(AE)Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. ³⁴ Everything was numbered and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at that time.

^35 (AF)The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: ^(AG)12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, 12 male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the Lord. ³⁶ Then ^(AH)they delivered the king’s edicts to ^(AI)the king’s satraps and to the governors in the provinces beyond the ^[l]River, and they supported the people and the house of God.

Mixed Marriages

9 Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^(A)separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^(B)according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. ² For ^(C)they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that ^(D)the holy ^[a]race has ^(E)intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” ³ When I heard about this matter, I ^(F)tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and ^(G)sat down appalled. ⁴ Then ^(H)everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until ^(I)the evening offering.

Prayer of Confession

⁵ But at the evening offering I arose from my ^[b]humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and ^(J)stretched out my ^[c]hands to the Lord my God; ⁶ and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have ^[d]risen above our heads and our ^(K)guilt has grown even to the heavens. ^7 (L)Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to ^[e](M)open shame, as it is this day. ⁸ But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, ^(N)to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a ^(O)peg in His holy place, that our God may ^(P)enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. ^9 (Q)For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but ^(R)has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, ¹¹ which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and ^(S)with their impurity. ¹² So now do not ^(T)give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and ^(U)never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and ^(V)leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ ¹³ After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and ^(W)our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us ^(X)an escaped remnant as this, ^14 (Y)shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples ^[f]who commit these abominations? ^(Z)Would You not be angry with us ^[g]to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? ¹⁵ O Lord God of Israel, ^(AA)You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in ^(AB)our guilt, for ^(AC)no one can stand before You because of this.”

Reconciliation with God

10 Now ^(A)while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ^(B)before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. ² Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “^(C)We have been unfaithful to our God and have ^[a]married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ So now ^(D)let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and ^[b](E)their children, according to the counsel of ^[c]my lord and of ^(F)those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done ^(G)according to the law. ⁴ Arise! For this matter is ^[d]your responsibility, but we will be with you; ^(H)be courageous and act.”

⁵ Then Ezra rose and ^(I)made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take oath that they would do according to this ^[e]proposal; so they took the oath. ⁶ Then Ezra ^(J)rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, ^(K)he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. ⁷ They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

⁹ So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, ^(L)trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now therefore, ^(M)make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and ^(N)do His will; and ^(O)separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, “That’s right! As you have said, so it is ^[f]our duty to do. ¹³ But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. ¹⁴ Let our leaders ^[g]represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the ^(P)fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah ^[h]opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

¹⁶ But the exiles did so. And ^[i]Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they ^[j]convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. ¹⁷ They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

List of Offenders

¹⁸ Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of ^(Q)Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. ¹⁹ They ^[k]pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, ^(R)they offered a ram of the flock for their offense. ²⁰ Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah; ²¹ and of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel and Uzziah; ²² and of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah.

²³ Of Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer.

²⁴ Of the singers there was Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem and Uri.

²⁵ Of Israel, of the sons of ^(S)Parosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah; ²⁶ and of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah; ²⁷ and of the sons of ^(T)Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad and Aziza; ²⁸ and of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai; ²⁹ and of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth; ³⁰ and of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh; ³¹ and of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, ^(U)Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³² Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah; ³³ of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei; ³⁴ of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, ³⁵ Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, ³⁶ Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷ Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, ³⁸ Bani, Binnui, Shimei, ³⁹ Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰ Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴² Shallum, Amariah and Joseph. ⁴³ Of the sons of ^(V)Nebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah. ⁴⁴ All these had married ^(W)foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.