Ezra 8

New American Standard Bible

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 two hundred males with him; ⁵ of the sons of ^[a]Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and three hundred males with him; ⁶ and of the sons of ^(C)Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan and fifty males with him; ⁷ and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and seventy males with him; ⁸ and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael and eighty 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 ^[b]Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and 160 males with him; ¹¹ and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai and twenty-eight 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, ^[c]Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and sixty males with them; ¹⁴ and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and ^[d]Zabbud, and seventy males with ^[e]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 paid close attention to 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, ^[f]leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers. ¹⁷ And I sent them to Iddo the ^[g]leading man at the place called Casiphia; and I ^[h]told them what to say to ^[i]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)And as the good hand of our God was upon us, they brought us a ^(H)man of insight from the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, eighteen men; ¹⁹ and Hashabiah and ^[j]Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty men; ²⁰ and 220 of ^(I)the temple servants, whom David and the officials had provided 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, to ^(L)humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a ^[k]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 ^[l]protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “^(M)The hand of our God is ^[m]favorably disposed to all who seek Him, but ^(N)His power and His anger are against all those who ^(O)abandon Him.” ²³ So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He ^[n](P)listened to our pleading.

²⁴ Then I selected 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, ^(T)his counselors, his officials, and all Israel who were present there had contributed. ^26 (U)So I weighed into their hands ^[o]650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth ^[p]a hundred talents, and a hundred gold talents, ²⁷ and twenty gold bowls worth a thousand ^[q]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 ^[r]voluntary 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 leaders of the fathers’ households of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites ^(Y)accepted the weight of 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 upon us, and He rescued us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the road. ^32 (AC)So we came to Jerusalem and remained there for three days.

Treasure Placed in the Temple

³³ And on the fourth day the silver, 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 A notation was made for everything by number and weight, 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)twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve 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 the governors in the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and they supported the people and the house of God.