The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Ezra 08
1 Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households, and this is the
genealogy of those who went up with me from
Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:
2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom.
Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel.
Of the sons of David, Hattush.
3 Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of
Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were
listed by genealogy of the males one
hundred fifty.
4 Of the sons of Pahathmoab, Eliehoenai
the son of Zerahiah; and with him two
hundred males.
5 Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of
Jahaziel; and with him three hundred
males.
6 Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of
Jonathan; and with him fifty males.
7 Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of
Athaliah; and with him seventy males.
8 Ofthe sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the
son of Michael; and with him eighty
males.
9 Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son
of Jehiel; and with him two hundred
eighteen males.
10 Of the sons of Shelomith, the son of
Josiphiah; and with him one hundred
sixty males.
11 Ofthe sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son
of Bebai; and with him twenty-eight
males.
12 Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son
of Hakkatan; and with him one hundred ten males.
13 Of the sons of Adonikam, who were
the last, their names are: Eliphelet,
Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them
sixty males.
14 Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males.
15 I gathered them together to the river
that runs to Ahava; and there we encamped three days.
Then I looked around at the people and the priests, and found
there were none of the sons of Levi.
16 Then I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for
Shemaiah, for Elnathan, for Jarib, for Elnathan, for Nathan, for Zechariah, and for
Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib and
for Elnathan, who were teachers.
17 I sent them out to Iddo the chief at
the place Casiphia; and I told them what
they should tell Iddo and his brothers the
temple servants at the place Casiphia, that
they should bring to us ministers for the
house of our God.
18 According to the good hand of our God
on us they brought us a man of discretion,
ofthe sons of Mahli,the son of Levi,the son
of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons
and his brothers, eighteen;
19 and Hashabiah, and withhimJeshaiah
of the sons of Merari, his brothers and
their sons, twenty;
20 and of the temple servants, whom
David and the princes had given for the
service of the Levites, two hundred twenty
temple servants. All of them were mentioned by name.
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the
river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a
straight way for us, for our little ones, and
for 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 on the way, because we
had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand
of our God is on all those who seek him,
for good; but his power and his wrath is
against all those who forsake him.”
23 So we fasted and begged our God for
this, and he granted our request.
24 Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs
of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah,
and ten of their brothers with them,
25 and weighed to them the silver, the
gold, and the vessels, even the offering for
the house of our God, which the king, his
counselors, his princes, and allIsrael there
present, had offered.
26 I weighed into their hand six hundred
fifty talents of silver,† one hundred talents
of silver vessels, one hundred talents of
gold,
27 twenty bowls of gold weighing one
thousand darics,‡ and two vessels of fine
bright bronze, precious as gold.
28 I said to them, “You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy. The silver
and the gold are a free will offering to
Yahweh, the God of your fathers.
29 Watch and keep them until you weigh
them before the chiefs of the priests, the
Levites, and the princes of the fathers’
households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the
rooms of Yahweh’s house.”
30 So the priests and the Levites received
the weight of the silver, the gold, and the
vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the
house of our God.
31 Then we departed from the river
Ahava on the twelfth day of the first
month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our
God was on us, and he delivered us from
the hand of the enemy and the bandits by
the way.
32 We came to Jerusalem, and stayed
there three days.
33 On the fourth day the silver and the
gold and the vessels were weighed in the
house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with
him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and
with them were Jozabad the son of Jeshua,
and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levites.
34 Everything was counted and weighed;
and all the weight was written at that time.
35 The children of the captivity, who
had come out of exile, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for
all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven
lambs, and twelve male goats for a sin
offering. All this was a burnt offering to
Yahweh.
36 They delivered the king’s commissions
to the king’s local governors and to the
governors beyond the River. So they supported the
people and God’s house.