Ezra 8:21-36

Fasting and Prayer for Protection

21 aThen I proclaimed a fast there, at the river bAhava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, cto seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 22For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, d“The hand of our God is for good on eall who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” 23So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Priests to Guard Offerings

24Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: fSherebiah, gHashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. 25And I weighed out to them the hsilver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his icounselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. 26 jI weighed out into their hand 650 talents
A  talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents,
Revocalization; the number is missing in the Masoretic Text
and 100 talents of gold,
2720 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics,
A  daric was a coin weighing about 1/4 ounce or 8.5 grams
and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold.
28And I said to them, n“You are holy to the Lord, and othe vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. 29Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel at Jerusalem, pwithin the chambers of the house of the Lord.” 30So the priests and the Levites qtook over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

31Then we departed from the river Ahava ron the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. sThe hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. 32 tWe came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. 33On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were uweighed into the hands of vMeremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, wJozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of xBinnui. 34The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.

35At that time ythose who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, ztwelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 aaThey also delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s absatraps
A satrap was a Persian official
and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.

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