Ezra 08 The List of Those Who Came Back from Babylon with Ezra

 Ezra 08

The List of Those Who Came Back from Babylon with Ezra

1 Now these are the heads of their fathers' houses, by their genealogies, who came up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:

2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershon; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush;

3 Of the sons of Shecaniah and of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him by genealogies were numbered one hundred and fifty men;

4 Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Elioenai the son of Zerachiah, and with him two hundred men;

5 Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jehaziel, and with him three hundred men;

6 And of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty men;

7 And of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy men;

8 Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him eighty men;

9 Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jeiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen men;

10 Of the sons of Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty men;

11 Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight men;

12 Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten men;

13 Of the last sons of Adonikion, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty men;

14 Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabud, and with them seventy men;

15 And I gathered them together by the river that goeth to Ahava, and we camped there three days: then I looked among the people and among the priests, and I found none of the sons of Levi there.

16 So I sent Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Renathan, Nethan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, the leaders, and Joiarib and Elnathan, who were wise men.

17 And I sent them to Iddo the leader in the place of Casiphiah, and I put words in their mouths to tell Iddo his brother and the Nethinim in the place of Casiphiah to bring us ministers for the house of our God.

18 And they brought us, according to the good hand of God upon us, a man of understanding from the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen; 

19 Hashabiah and Jeshaiah with him, of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, twenty; 

20 and of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had given to minister to the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims, all of whom were recorded 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 road for us, our children, and all our goods. 

22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for an army and horsemen to defend us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, "The hand of our God is for good upon all who seek Him, but His power and His wrath upon all who forsake Him." 

23 So we fasted and petitioned our God for this, and He granted our prayers. 

24 Then I set apart twelve of the chief priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers.

 25 I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, which were the offering for the house of our God, which the king and his counselors, his princes, and all Israel who were present there had offered. 

26 I weighed into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and in silver vessels a hundred talents of silver and a hundred talents of gold. 

27 And twenty gold bowls, weighing a thousand drachmas, and two vessels of fine bright metal, as desirable as gold. 

28 And I said to them, "You are consecrated to the Lord, and these vessels are holy, as is the silver and the gold, a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers. 

29 Therefore watch and guard them until you weigh them in the presence of the chief of the priests and the Levites and the princes of the fathers' houses of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of our God. 

30 Then 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 set out from the River Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of our enemies and from those who lay in wait for us on the way. 

32 So we came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. 

33 On the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest. and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites; 

34 According to the number and according to the weight of all, and all the weight was described at the same time. 

35 And the captives who had been carried away from the captivity 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 as a burnt offering to the Lord. 

36 Then they gave the king's orders to the king's satraps and to the governors beyond the River, and they helped the people and the house of God.