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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:² of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, ^(C1)Hattush;³ of the sons of Shecaniah who was of the sons of ^(C1)Parosh, Zechariah and with him 150 males who were in the genealogical list;⁴ of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah and 200 males with him;⁵ of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel and 300 males with him;⁶ and of the sons of ^(C1)Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan and 50 males with him;⁷ and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah and 70 males with him;⁸ and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael and 80 males with him;⁹ of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel and 218 males with him;¹⁰ and of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah and 160 males with him;¹¹ and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai and 28 males with him;¹² and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan and 110 males with him;¹³ and of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, these being their names, Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and 60 males with them;¹⁴ and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and ^(F1)Zabbud, and 70 males with ^(F2)them.

Ezra Sends for Levites

¹⁵ Now I assembled them at ^(C1)the river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I observed the people and the priests, I ^(C2)did not find any Levites there.¹⁶ So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, ^(F1)leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers.¹⁷ I sent them to Iddo the ^(F1)leading man at the place Casiphia; and I ^(F2)told them what to say to ^(F3)Iddo and his brothers, ^(C1)the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God.^18 (C1)According to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a ^(C2)man of insight of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, 18 men;¹⁹ and Hashabiah and ^(F1)Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, 20 men;²⁰ and 220 of ^(C1)the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, all of them designated by name.

Protection of God Invoked

²¹ Then I proclaimed ^(C1)a fast there at ^(C2)the river of Ahava, that we might ^(C3)humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a ^(F1)safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.²² For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to ^(F1)protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, "^(C1)The hand of our God is ^(F2)favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but ^(C2)His power and His anger are against all those who ^(C3)forsake Him."²³ So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He ^(F1)(C1)listened to our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, ^(C1)Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers;²⁵ and I ^(C1)weighed out to them ^(C2)the silver, the gold and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king and ^(C3)his counselors and his princes and all Israel present there had offered.^26 (C1)Thus I weighed into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth 100 talents, and 100 gold talents,²⁷ and 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold.²⁸ Then I said to them, "^(C1)You are holy to the LORD, and the ^(C2)utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD God of your fathers.²⁹ "Watch and keep them ^(C1)until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites and the heads of the fathers' households of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD."³⁰ So the priests and the Levites ^(C1)accepted the weighed out silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.

³¹ Then we journeyed from ^(C1)the river Ahava on ^(C2)the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and ^(C3)the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.^32 (C1)Thus we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days.

Treasure Placed in the Temple

^35 (C1)The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: ^(C2)12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, 12 male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the LORD.³⁶ Then ^(C1)they delivered the king's edicts to ^(C2)the king's satraps and to the governors in the provinces beyond the ^(F1)River, and they supported the people and the house of God.