Ezra 8

CLV^{(i) 1} These were their patriarchal heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon in the reign of king Artaxerxes: ² From the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; from the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; from the sons of David, Hattus. ³ son of Shecaniah; from the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 males;" ⁴ from the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males;" ⁵ from the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 males;" ⁶ and from the sons of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males;" ⁷ and from the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males;" ⁸ and from the sons of Shepatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 males;" ⁹ from the sons of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred eighteen males;" ¹⁰ and from the sons of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 males;" ¹¹ and from the sons of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 males;" ¹² and from the sons of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 males;" ¹³ and from the sons of Adonikam, who were the last ones, and these are their names:Eliphelet, Jeiel and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males;" ¹⁴ and from the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 males. ¹⁵ I convened them at the stream that comes to Ahava; and we encamped there for three days, that I might review the people and the priests, yet I did not find there anyone from the sons of Levi. ¹⁶ So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah and Elnathan and Jarib and Elnathan and Nathan and Zechariah and Meshullam, heads, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, men of understanding. ¹⁷ Then I gave them instructions concerning Iddo the head at the place called Casiphia. I put in their mouth words to speak to Iddo and his brother and the Nethinim at the place called Casiphia, to bring to us ministers for the House of our Elohim. ¹⁸ Because of the good hand of our Elohim upon us, they brought to us a man of intelligence from the sons of Mahli son of Levi son of Israel, namely Sherebiah and his sons and his brothers, eighteen in all;" ¹⁹ and Hashabiah and with him Jeschaiah from the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty in all;" ²⁰ and from the Nethinim, whom David and the chiefs gave to the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim; all of them were specified by name. ²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there by the stream Ahava to humble ourselves before our Elohim so as to seek from Him a straight way for us and for our little ones and for all our goods. ²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to help us against enemy attack on the way, since we had told the king, saying:The hand of our Elohim is over all those seeking Him for good; yet His strength and His anger are against all those forsaking Him. ²³ So we fasted and besought our Elohim for this, and He let Himself be entreated by us. ²⁴ From the priests' chiefs I then separated twelve, namely Sherebiah and Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers. ²⁵ To them I weighed out the silver, the gold and the vessels--the heave offering for the House of our Elohim--that the king and his counselors and his chiefs and all of Israel who were available had donated. ²⁶ Thus I weighed out into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, a hundred silver vessels valued at ... {Either Hb numeral dropped out or "talentsshould be read as a dual.} talents, a hundred talents of gold, ²⁷ twenty small bowls of gold valued at a thousand darics, and two vessels of good glistening copper, desirable as gold. ²⁸ And I said to them:You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to Yahweh Elohim of your fathers. ²⁹ Be alert and guard them until you weigh them out in the rooms of the House of Yahweh before the priests' chiefs and the Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel in Jerusalem. ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem to the House of our Elohim. ³¹ Then we journeyed from the Ahava stream on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our Elohim was over us:He rescued us from the palm of the enemy and the ambush on the way. ³² When we came to Jerusalem, we sat there three days. ³³ On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed out in the House of our Elohim into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest, with whom was Eleazar son of Phineas; with them were also Jozabad son of Jeshua, and Noadiah son of Binnui, the Levites. ³⁴ Everything was checked by number and by weight; and the entire weight was listed. At that time ³⁵ those who had come from the captivity, the sons of deportation, offered ascent offerings to the Elohim of Israel:twelve young bulls on behalf of all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-two he-lambs (and twelve he-goats as a sin offering); all this was an ascent offering to Yahweh. ³⁶ They also delivered the king's edicts to the satraps of the king and the viceroys Beyond-the-Stream who then assisted the people and the House of the One, Elohim.