Ezra 8 — AAB

The Exiles Who Returned with Ezra

8Verse 1These are the family heads and genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:^{Verse 2}from the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom;
from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;
from the descendants of David, Hattush^{Verse 3}of the descendants of Shecaniah;
from the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;^{Verse 4}from the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;^{Verse 5}from the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel,⁺and with him 300 men;^{Verse 6}from the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;^{Verse 7}from the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;^{Verse 8}from the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;^{Verse 9}from the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;^{Verse 10}from the descendants of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah,⁺and with him 160 men;^{Verse 11}from the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;^{Verse 12}from the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;^{Verse 13}from the later⁺descendants of Adonikam, these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;^{Verse 14}and from the descendants of Bigvai, both Uthai and Zaccur,⁺and with them 70 men.

Ezra Sends for the Levites

^{Verse 15}Now I assembled these exiles at the canal that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And when I searched among the people and priests, I found no Levites there.^{Verse 16}Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan,⁺Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan.^{Verse 17}And I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for him and his kinsmen, the temple servants⁺at Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.^{Verse 18}And since the gracious hand of our God was upon us, they brought us Sherebiah—a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel—along with his sons and brothers, 18 men;^{Verse 19}also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men.^{Verse 20}They also brought 220 of the temple servants, all designated by name. David and the officials had appointed them to assist the Levites.

Fasting for Protection

^{Verse 21}And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.^{Verse 22}For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.”^{Verse 23}So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He granted our request.

Priests to Guard the Offerings

^{Verse 24}Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers,^{Verse 25}and I weighed out to them the contribution of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites there had offered for the house of our God.^{Verse 26}I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver,⁺articles of silver weighing 100 talents,⁺100 talents of gold,^{+Verse 27}20 gold bowls valued at 1,000 darics,⁺and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold.^{Verse 28}Then I told them, “You are holy to the LORD, and these articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.^{Verse 29}Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families.”^{Verse 30}So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.^{Verse 31}On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.

Arrival in Jerusalem

^{Verse 32}So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.^{Verse 33}On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and sacred articles into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, along with the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.^{Verse 34}Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.^{Verse 35}Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed ascension offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a purification offering of 12 male goats. All this was an ascension offering to the LORD.^{Verse 36}They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps⁺and governors of the region west of the Euphrates,⁺who proceeded to assist the people and the house of God.