Ezra 8

People Who Went with Ezra

1 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: 2of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, aHattush; 3of the sons of Shecaniah who was of the sons of bParosh, Zechariah, and with him 150 males who were in the genealogical list; 4of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah and two hundred males with him; 5of the sons of
As in LXX; MT omits Zattu
Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and three hundred males with him;
6and of the sons of dAdin, Ebed the son of Jonathan and fifty males with him; 7and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and seventy males with him; 8and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael and eighty males with him; 9of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel and 218 males with him; 10and of the sons of
As in LXX; MT omits Bani
Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and 160 males with him;
11and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai and twenty-eight males with him; 12and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan and 110 males with him; 13and of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, these being their names: Eliphelet,
Or Jeuel
Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and sixty males with them;
14and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and
Or Zakkur
Zabbud, and seventy males with
Or him
them.

Ezra Sends for Levites

15 Now I assembled them at ithe river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I paid close attention to the people and the priests, I jdid not find any Levites there. 16So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam,
Lit heads
leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers.
17And I sent them to Iddo the
Lit head
leading man at the place called Casiphia; and I
Lit put words in their mouth to say
told them what to say to
As in LXX; MT Iddo his brother
Iddo and his brothers, othe temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God.
18 pAnd as the good hand of our God was upon us, they brought us a qman of insight from the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, eighteen men; 19and Hashabiah and
As in LXX; MT with him Jeshaiah
Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty men;
20and 220 of sthe 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 ta fast there at uthe river of Ahava, to vhumble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a
Lit smooth way
safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.
22For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to
Lit help
protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “ yThe hand of our God is
Lit upon all...for good
favorably disposed to all who seek Him, but aaHis power and His anger are against all those who ababandon Him.”
23So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He
Lit was entreated by us
adlistened to our pleading.

24 Then I selected twelve of the leading priests: aeSherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers; 25and I afweighed out to them agthe silver, the gold, and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king, ahhis counselors, his officials, and all Israel who were present there had contributed. 26 aiSo I weighed into their hands
About 24 tons or 22 metric tons
650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth
About 3.75 tons or 3.4 metric tons
a hundred talents, and a hundred gold talents,
27and twenty gold bowls worth a thousand
A coin weighing about 0.25 oz. or 7 gm
darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold.
28Then I said to them, “ amYou are holy to the Lord, and the anutensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a
Or freewill offering
voluntary offering to the Lord God of your fathers.
29Watch and keep them apuntil 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.” 30So the priests and the Levites aqaccepted 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 arthe river Ahava on asthe twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and atthe hand of our God was upon us, and He rescued us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the road. 32 auSo 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 avwere weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of awMeremoth 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. 34A notation was made for everything by number and weight, and all the weight was recorded at that time.

35 axThe exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: aytwelve 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. 36Then azthey delivered the king’s edicts to bathe king’s satraps and the governors in the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and they supported the people and the house of God.
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