Ezra 8

The Exiles Who Returned with Ezraⓘ

Family heads who returned with Ezra¹These are the family heads and genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

³of the descendants of Shecaniah;

Ezra Sends for the Levitesⓘ

Gathering Levites and temple servants at Ahava¹⁵Now 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.

¹⁶Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan,^e Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan. ¹⁷And I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for him and his kinsmen, the temple servants^f at Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

¹⁸And 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; ¹⁹also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men. ²⁰They 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ⓘ

A fast for a safe journey²¹And 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. ²²For 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.”

²³So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He granted our request.

Priests to Guard the Offeringsⓘ

Entrusting the silver, gold, and vessels²⁴Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers, ²⁵and 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.

²⁶I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver,^g articles of silver weighing 100 talents,^h 100 talents of gold,^{i 27}20 gold bowls valued at 1,000 darics,^j and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold.

²⁸Then 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. ²⁹Guard 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.”

³⁰So 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.

Arrival, delivery, and sacrifices³¹On 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ⓘ

³²So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.

³³On 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. ³⁴Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.

³⁵Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

³⁶They also delivered the kingʼs edicts to the royal satraps^k and governors of the region west of the Euphrates,^l who proceeded to assist the people and the house of God.